Prairies and copses, (Mountains of Virginia?) Illinois! to Arkansas!
Western Louisiana! and the borders of Texas! July-Aug.—Plant rather
stout and with a coarse habit, 2-4 feet high; the receptacle1 when bruised,
and perhaps also the leaves, exhaling an anisate or vanilla-like odor, much
as in Lepachys. Leaves 3-5 inches in length ; the lower ones sometimes
undivided and the upper occasionally 3-lobed ; but usually the lower ones
only 3-parted or divided ; the lateral lobes smallest, lanceolate ; the terminal
ovate-lanceolate or ovate, acuminate, serrate. Peduncles short. Rays,
10 to 12, or rarely 20, 10-15 lines long, bright yellow.
7. R. mollis (Ell.): stem hirsute-villous, branching; leaves sessile and
partly clasping, oblong, obscurely serrate, tomentose-canescent on both sides,
the lower ones somewhat spatulate ; heads rather large; scales of the involucre
numerous, linear-lanceolate, villous, reflexed about half the length of
the rays; chaff" linear, canescent at the summit, rather obtuse, as long as the
purple corolla; achenia (small) minutely 4-toothed at the summit.—E ll.!
sic. 2. p. 453; DC. ! prodr. 5. p. 556. R. spathulata, Pursh ! fl. 2. p. 574,
not of Michx.
Western districts of Georgia, Bartram! Baldwin! Elliott! &c. Aug.-
Oct.—Plant 2-3 feet high, canescent throughout; the branches simple and
terminated by a single head. Leaves 12-15 lines long, soft. Rays 15-20,
usually an inch long, pale yellow, hut deep yellow at the base. Achenia
scarcely half the length of the narrow chaff", exactly 4-sided; the angles
produced into indistinct and minute obtuse teeth.
8. R. Heliopsidis: stem simple from a prostrate rhizoma, somewhat pubescent
with appressed hairs, terete, bearing 3-6 slender angled branches or
peduncles near the summit; leaves somewhat distant, ovate or oval, slightly
serrate, mostly obtuse, quintuplinerved, glabrous or nearly so, abruptly contracted,
the lower into long and slender, the upper into short petioles ; scales
of the involucre oblong or somewhat spatulate, minutely pubescent, at length
squarrose, shorter than the subglobose brownish purple disk, and much shorter
than the (10-12) oblong-linear spreading rays; chaff of the receptacle obtuse,
canescent-pubescent at the summit, about the length of the corolla;
achenia of the rays triangular and as large as the quadrangular fertile ones ;
pappus nearly obsolete.
a. almost glabrous; leaves more or less serrate, sometimes acute; involucre
much shorter than the disk.
/?. stem stouter, pubescent below with spreading, above with appressed
hairs ; leaves nearly entire, obtuse.
Pine woods, &c. a. Columbus, Georgia, Dr. Boykin! ƒ?. Cherokee
country of Alabama, in wet places, Mr. Buckley! Aug.-Sept.—Stem
about 2 feet high. Lower leaves 2-3 inches long, 1-2 broad, on petioles 2-6
inches long, which in 0. are hairy, pale beneath, dull above. Rays scarcely
an inch long, pale yellow, in 0. presenting an abortive style. Involucre and
disk exactly resembling some forms of Heliopsis laevis, except that the latter
is brownish-purple: the achenia of the rays perfectly formed, and often
larger than the fertile fruit, but not ovuliferous.
9. R. alismeefolia: glabrous; stem simple or sometimes branched, angled,
smooth below, scabrous towards the long and naked striate-furrowed summit,
terminated by large solitary heads; leaves (often membranaceous) somewhat
scabrous, oval, obtuse or slightly pointed, entire or sparingly repand-toothed,
3-5-nerved and reticulate-veined ; the radical and lower cauline tapering by
a cuneate base into slender petioles; the uppermost cuneiform-obovate,
nearly sessile ; scales of the involucre linear, mostly shorter than the ovoid-
globose brownish disk, and much shorter than the (12-15) drooping ra y s;
chaff of the receptacle rather obtuse, canescent at the summit, a little shorter
than the corolla; pappus coroniform, conspicuous, unequally crenate-toothed.
Plains and pine woods, Western Louisiana, especially on the borders of
Texas, Dr. Hale! Dr. Leavenworth! Dr. Carpenter! Texas, Drummond.
June-Aug.—Plant 2-3 feet high, rather slenden Lower leaves 3-6 inches
long, 2-3 wide, usually nearly entire, strongly ribbed and beautifully reticulated
between the ribs, sprinkled with minute resinous dots, sometimes membranaceous
and nearly smooth ; the upper all_ similar in form but smaller
and on shorter petioles, or the uppermost sessile. Heads smaller than m
R. grandiflora; the broadish rays an inch or more in length : the chaff, corolla,
pappus, &c. very similar ; the latter perhaps more conspicuous, as long
as the proper tube of the corolla.—Closely allied to the following species.
10. R. grandiflora (Gmel., D C .): scabrous-hispid throughout; stem simple
or branching, striate-angled; the branches naked above, and terminated
by solitary (very large) heads; leaves rigid, very rough; the radical and
lowest cauline ovate or oval, somewhat serrate or entire, 7-nerved and reticulate
veined, on long petioles; the upper lanceolate, unequally and sharply
denticulate-serrate, acuminate at each end, 3-5-nerved, on short petioles, the
uppermost sessile ; scales of the involucre numerous, linear, shorter than the
ovoid-globose purplish-brown disk, and many times shorter than the numerous
(20 or more) drooping rays; chaff of the receptacle rather acute, somewhat
canescent at the summit, shorter than the corolla ; pappus coroniform,
crenate or unequally toothed, conspicuous.—DC. prodr. 5. p. 556. R. nu-
dicaulis, Nutt, mss., not of Pers. Centrocarpha grandiflora, Don, in Sweet,
Brit. Jl. gard. ser. 2. t. 87. > . _
Dry plains, &c., Red River, Arkansas, Nuttall! Dr. Pitcher. Dr. Leavenworth!
July-Sept.—Stem stout, 2-3 feet high, thickly clothed, like the
both surfaces of the leaves, with short and very rough hispid hairs. Leaves
with strong nerves, or rather ribs, running from the base to the apex ; the
upper 4-6 inches long, an inch or less wide; the lowermost sometimes 8
inches long and 3-4 broad. Heads in the cultivated plant sometimes “ nearly
6 inches across” ; the rays in our indigenous specimens 2 inches long,
golden yellow, minutely tomentose-pubescent beneath. _ Receptacle narrowly
conical.—The character given by De Candolle, which is chiefly taken
from that of Don, is incorrect in several particulars : the pappus is not very
short, but large for a Rudbeckia ; the rays are not hispid beneath, nor is the
chaff pungent, or even pointed, in this, or in any of Prof. Don’s species of
Centrocarpha, except R. triloba.
* * * Disk greenish-yellow, conical, somewhat prolonged when matrne; the receptacle at
length columnar or spidform: chaff navicular, truncate, somewhat bearded at the
summit, not longer than the ‘prismatic achenia: branches o f the style truncate, slightly
thickened and bearded at the summit.
11. R. laciniata (Linn.): glabrous; stem tall, branching; leaves minutely
hairy and scabrous, particularly on the margins; the radical and lowermost
pinnately (5-7-) divided, the divisions 3-lobed or incised, sometimes lacini-
a te ; upper leaves irregularly 3-5-parted, with the segments lanceolate or
ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, often toothed, or incised ; the uppermost simple,
lanceolate or ovate, incisely toothed or entire ; heads (rather large) somewhat
corymbose-paniculate; rays drooping, about twice the length of the ovate-
lanceolate scales of the involucre; achenia prismatic, with a coroniform
toothed pappus.—Linn.! hort. Cliff., 8f spec. 2. p. 906 ; Michx. ! fl. 2. p.
144 ; Willd. ! spec. 3. p. 2247 ; Pursh! fl. 2. p. 575 ; Ell. sk. 2. p. 451 ;
Bart.fl. Amer. Sept. 1 .1.16; Darlingt.fi. Cesf._p.481; D C .!prodr. 5.p.555.
/3. leaves glabrous, the upper ones undivided.—R. lsevigata, Pursh ! fl. 2.
p. 574, not of Nutt. : K
y. divisions of the radical and lower leaves pinnatifid.—R. digitata, Mill.