Style bulbous at the base. Summit of the achenium obscurely coroniform,
produced into a short somewhat lacerate tooth at the principal angles (the
inner angle strongest), and very obscurely toothed at the intermediate angles.
§ 2. Receptacle f la t ; the chaff broad, chartaceo-membranaceous, entire: scales
o f the involucre squarrose-spreading; the inner linear-lanceolate ; the exterior
foliaceous, or some o f them changed into leaves: branches of the style
smooth below, terminated by a short dilated or spatulate appendage, with
hispid margins : teeth of the corolla densely puberulent externally: ovaries
flat, with narrow winged margins.
3. H.Douglasii: stem (the upper portion) hirsute with spreading hairs ;
striate-angled; leaves oblong-lanceolate, acutish, sessile, triplinerved, glabrous,
or sparsely hirsute-pubescent on the midrib and margins; head solitary,
pedunculate; the winged margins of the young achenia laeerate-fringed at
the summit, not awned ; intermediate squamells obsolete or none.
Interior of Oregon ; “ common on the subalpine range of the Blue Mountains,
3-5 feet high, rarely branching,” Douglas ! in herb. Hook.—The specimen
wants the lower part of the stem: it appears to be nearly allied to Mr.
Nuttall’s Leighia lanceolata; but the leaves are closely sessile and triplinerved
at a considerable distance from the base: the solitary head (the flat
disk an inch in diameter, the rays about 24,) is borne on a hirsute peduncle
2 inches long; and the wings of the ovary, which form lacerate appendages
at the summit, are not produced into awns. Better specimens, however, are
needed for the proper determination of these species.—The corolla in this
genus exhibits the ordinary venation of the family ; but some flowers of this
species present the intermediate nerves, like most. Heliantbi.
4. H. lanceolata: nearly glabrous; stem grooved, bearing 2-3 or more
subsessile heads; leaves lanceolate, acuminate at each end, petioled,
3-nerved, a little hairy ; the upper and lower alternate, the intermediate opposite
; achenia short, obcordate, the narrow (not ciliated) wings produced
into slender persistent awns twice or thrice the length of the ovary ; intermediate
squamellae obsolete.—Leighia lanceolata, Nutt. ! in trans. Amer. phil.
soc. (n. ser.) 7. p. 365.
Rocky Mountain plains, and Upper California? Nuttall.—Having no specimens
(except the ovaries), we have drawn the character from Mr. NuttaTl’s
description. The stem is said to be 12 to 18 inches high; the lower leaves
6-8 inches long, an inch broad. Rays 12-14 : the chaff retuse.
5. H. uniflora: stem and leaves clothed with a short and soft somewhat
cinereous pubescence; leaves lanceolate-oblong, rather acute, triplinerved,
narrowed at the base, sessile, the middle ones sometimes opposite ; head solitary
on a long naked peduncle; involucre leafy at the base; the narrow
wings of the young obovate achenia ciliate, each bearing at the- summit 1 or
2 stout apparently persistent awns as long as the ovary ; intermediate squa-
mellse 2-4, obtuse, lacerate.—Helianthus uniflorus, Nutt.! in jour. acad.
Philad. 7. p. 37. Leighia uniflora, Nutt. ! in trans. Amer. phil. soc. 1. c.
Rocky Mountains, on the sources of the Missouri, Mr. Wyeth! June.—
Resembles the preceding; and like them with the nerves of the leaves connected
by transverse reticulated veinlets. Rays 15-20, more than an inch
long.—This species makes a nearer approach to Leighia than the others, but
certainly it does not belong to that genus.
Leighia? Hookeriana, Nutt. 1. c.= Helianthus Hookerianus, DC. =H. longifolius,
Hook, (not of Pwrsh), is Wyethia robusta, Nutt.! Leighia debilis, Nutt. 1. c. (in a
note) from Maldonado, is apparently L. buphthalmiflora 0. Hook, cf- Am.; and L.
Baldwiniana, Nutt. 1. c. is Pascalia glauca, Ort., DC.
90. ACTINOMERIS. N u tt. g en . 2. p . 131 (1818); D C . p r o d r . 5. p . 575.
Pterophyton, Cass. (1818)—Actimeris, Raf.
Heads many-flowered; the ray-flowers 4-14, elongated, or sometimes
wanting. Scales of the involucre foliaceous, nearly equal, in 1-3 series,
mostly shorter than the disk. Receptacle convex or conical, chafly; the
chaff embracing the outer margin of the achenia. Corolla of the disk with a
more or less inflated 5-lobed limb longer than the tube. Branches of the
style terminated by an acute or subulate cone. Achenia compressed, obovate,
mostly winged, flat, crowned with 2 nearly smooth persistent awns.—
Tall and branching (North American and Mexican) perennial herbs, with alternate
or opposite ovate or lanceolate serrate (feather-veined) leaves, which
(although often tapering at the base as if petioled) are mostly decurrent on
the terete stem. Heads corymbose. Flowers yellow, rarely white.
§ 1. Receptacle v e r y small, sub globose : scales o f the involucre somewhat in a
double series, s p r e a d in g or reflexed, rather shorter than the d i s k : r a y s 4-8
or r a re ly 12, u su a lly f e w a n d ir r e g u la r : achenia b ro a d ly w in g e d : d is k
squarrose in f r u i t : flow e rs y ellow .—Actimeris.
1. A . squarrosa (Nutt.): stem more or less pubescent and hairy and
winged above ; leaves oblong-lanceolate or the lower ovate-lanceolate, tapering
or acuminate at both ends, often slightly petioled, scabrous above,
hirsute-pubescent or nearly glabrous beneath, serrate; heads in a loose corymbose
panicle ; scales of the involucre in 2 series; the exterior linear-spat-
ulate or oblanceolate, reflexed ; awns stout, much shorter than the achenium.
—N u tt.! g en . 2. p . 131; E l l . sk . 2. p . 413, excl. 0. Coreopsis alternifolia,
L i n n . ! spec. 2. p . 909; W i l ld . ' spec. 3. p . 2257 ; Jacq . hort. Vindob. t.
110. C. procera, A i t . ! K ew . (e d . 1 ) 3. p . 258. C. acuta, P u r s h ,f l . 2. p .
569 ? Verbesina Coreopsis, Michx. ! fl. 2. p . 134, excl. /3.
a. a lte rn ifo lia : leaves alternate, or the lower frequently opposite ; rays
4-8.—A. alternifolia, D C . ! p r o d r . 5. p . 575.
_ 0 . o p p o sitifolia : lower leaves generally opposite, sometimes ternately ver-
ticillate (E n g e lm a n n , in l i t t . ) ; rays 6- 12.—A. oppositifolia, Fresenius, in d .
sem. hort. F ran c . 1836, Sf in Linnoea, 12, su p p l. p . 77 ; scarcely of D C .
p r o d r . 7. p . 290 ?
Dry or alluvial soil, throughout the Western States from Michigan! to Arkansas!
Western New York, D r . S a r tw e ll! and in the western portion of
the Southern Atlantic States! Aug.-Oct.—Stem 4-8 feet high, glabrous below.
Lower leaves a foot or more in length, coarsely serrate or toothed.
Chaff ovate, much shorter than the corolla, coriaceous.—The A. oppositifolia
was described from a plant produced by seeds sent from Illinois by Dr.
Engelmann, who informs us that the common plant of that region generally
has opposite leaves. De Candolle’s description of A. oppositifolia seems to
have been drawn from a variety of A. helianthoides, except the appended
“ achenia lato-alata,” which was probably taken from Fresenius.