BOTANY. 
115 
and angled, somewhat muricate-toothed in a ring at the abrupt origin of the very long and 
capillary beak, which is more than thrice the length of the achenium. The latter is only 
lines long, while the beak is three-fourths of an inch long ; the pappus fully half an inch long. 
The lobes of the leaves are all retrorse and callous-tipped, as described by Mr. Bentham. 
Macrorhynchus grandiflorus, Torr. db Gray, FI. 2, p. 492, (Stylopappus grandiflorus, 
Nutt.) : var. involucri squamis exterioribus aut ovatis appendice acuminatis aut oblongo-lanceo- 
latis. Hill-sides, Napa Valley, near Sonoma ; May. Head in fruit an inch and a half long, 
broader and proportionally shorter than in M. retrorsus, the external calyculate scales more 
foliaceous and spreading. Achenia smooth and glabrous, oblong, acutely ribbed and angled, 
barely 2| lines long, abruptly tapering into a filiform beak of three-fourths of an inch in length; 
the pappus only 4| lines long. This may be a larger state of M. laciniatus, (of which I have 
only a miserable flowering specimen,) hut it plainly passes into M. grandiflorus. The achenia 
differ from those of M. retrorsus, and the lobes or lacinne of the leaves are either spreading or 
ascending. 
Macrorhynchus humilis, Benth. PI. Hartw. No. 1816, p. 820. Hills, near Punta de los 
Reyes, California ; April. The leaves are larger and more glabrate than in my specimen of 
Hartweg’s plant; the scape 6 to 10 inches high. The fusiform achenia are from 1| to 2 lines 
long; the external rather longer than the inner ones; the latter more strongly and sharply 
ribbed, as Mr. Bentham remarks. The beak, though apparently full grown, is not longer than 
the achenium. If it varies so as to be “ more than twice the length of the achenium,” as 
Bentham characterizes the species, then it must pass, I should think, into M. Lessingii, Hook. 
& Am.; of which we have no fruiting or certain materials ; hut it is said to have the beak 
“nearly thrice the length of the achenium.” 
Macrorhynchus heterophyllus, Nutt, in Trans. Amor. Phil. Soc. 1. o.; Torr. & Gray, FI. 2, 
p. 493. M. Chilensis, Hook, in Lond. Jour. Pot. 6 ,p. 256. Fields, Benicia and San Geronimo 
Ranch, California; April. This abounds in California and Oregon, where it is the only annual 
species known. Hooker pronounces this to the M. Chilensis ; and it doubtless must he so 
considered, if that is held to include all the Chilian species. But the short wing-ribbed 
achenium (1-| to 2 lines long) and long beak (of 3 to 4^ lines) distinguish it from M. lmvigatus, 
and less decidedly from M. pterocarpus, to one or the other of which Lessing’s M. Chilensis is 
referred, though in neither are the achenia “ plano-obcompressed.” The ribs or wings of M. 
heterophyllus vary considerably in strength ; they are scarcely, if at all, serruelate. When less 
salient and acute, they remain straight and even ; when more developed, especially in the ex¬ 
terior achenia, these wings become strongly undulate at or before maturity, sometimes very 
strikingly so, giving the body of the achenium a remarkable corrugated appearance. Some 
different state of the marginal achenia has probably served as the basis of Nuttall’s Crypto¬ 
pleura Californica ; hut I have seen nothing that accords with his character of it. 
Troximon parviflorum, Nutt, in Trans Amer. Phil. Soc. 1. c., p. 434. Macrorhynchus cyn- 
thioides, Hook. PI. Geyer, in Lond. Jour. Pot. 4, p. 256, ex char. Sandia mountains, New 
Mexico; October., The specimens, with mature fruit, are taller than Nuttall’s ; the scapes 9 
inches high ; the scales of the involucre tinged with purple, and the ligules of a remaining 
flower appear to have been purple. I suspect that T. roseum, Nutt., is only a variety of this 
with pinnatifid leaves and purplish or rose-colored flowers. I should confidently refer the 
present specimens to Macrorhynchus purpureus, Gray, PI. Fendl., were it not for the short 
and stouter beak, of less than half the length of the body of the achenium ; and the pappus is, 
perhaps, a little stiffer. Whether the difference holds constant or not, it is evident that the 
present plant effects a real transition between Troximon and Macrorynchus. 
Mulgedium pulchellum, Nutt. 1. c. Banks of the Pecos, New Mexico ; October. 
Sonchus oleraceus, Linn. Near San Gabriel, California ; March. 
