§ 2. Receptacle very small, subglolose: scales of the involucre few .in a single
series, at length reflexed: achenia usually broadly winged: rays none:
disk squarrose in f r u i t : the corolla white.—A n a c t im e r i s .
2. A . alba: stem smooth and glabrous, or scabrous-puberulent at the
summit, often slightly winged above ; leaves alternate, narrowly lanceolate,
tapering to each end, slightly petioled, serrate, scabrous ; heads in a loose
corymb ; scales of the involucre lanceolate-subulate; achenia crowned with
2 slender awns.—A. squarrosa, var. alba, Nutt. 1. c.; Ell. I l. c. Verbesina
Coreopsis p. alba, Michx. ! 1. c .; Pursh, l. c. ; Athanasia paniculata, Walt.
Car. p. 201.
Alluvial soil &c., S. Carolina to Western Louisiana ! Aug.-Oct.—Stem
3—10 feet high. Leaves 5—8 inches long; the lower ones very sharply serrate
; the upper often decurrent, but frequently not at all so. Heads smaller
than in A. squarrosa. Chaff ovate-lanceolate, shorter than the flowers,
membranaceous. Achenia with a very broad white wing; which is frequently
so large that the transverse diameter of the fruit is twice as great as
the longitudinal; while some of the achenia, even in the same head, are
nearly or quite wingless: the awns longer than in the preceding species, and
the corolla with a more deeply cleft limb.
§ 3. Receptacle conical: scales of the involucre in 2-3 series, not spreading
or reflexed in fru it: rays 8-15, regular: achenia slightly winged: flowers
yellow: stem (and sometimes even the peduncles) conspicuously winged with
the decurrent alternate leaves.—P t e r o p h y t o n , Cass, (partly.)
3. A . helianthoides (Nutt.) : stem hirsute-pubescent; leaves alternate,
ovate-lanceolate, acute, serrate, closely sessile, canescently villous with soft
appressed hairs beneath, strigose-scabrous above ; heads few in a contracted
simple corymb; peduncles mostly wingless ; rays 10-14, long and narrow;
achenia crowned with 2 setiform awns.—Nutt. ! gen. 2. p. 181 ; Ell. sk. 2.
p. 413; DC .! prodr. 5. p. 575, Sf 7: p. 290. (a. Nuttallii & ,8. Elliottii!)
Verbesina helianthoides, Miclix.,! 1. c.
Thickets, and in prairies,' Ohio! Illinois! and Missouri! to the western
part of Georgia! Louisiana! and Arkansas! June-July.—Stem 2-4 feet
high. Leaves about 3 inches long and one or more broad, acute'or attenuate
acuminate. Scales of the involucre canescent, lanceolate, oval, or somewhat
spatulate. Rays narrowly-lanceolate, 18-20 lines long* golden yellow.
Corolla of the disk deep yellow, with an elongated throat, 5-toothed. Anthers
conspicuously appendiculate. Chaff rigid, lanceolate, longer than the
fruit. Achenia oval, pubescent; the awns rather short, very slender, fragile,
—The plant cultivated in the Geneva garden has much broader involucral
scales than we have observed in indigenous specimens. The habit is quite
different from the other N. American species: the disk does not become squarrose
; and the receptacle is almost like that of Rudbeckia. A. ovata, and A.
tetraptera, DC. 8pc. apparently belong to this section.
§ 4. Receptacle at length conical: scales of the involucre few, in 2-3 series,
not spreading or reflexed in fr u it; the exterior lanceolate,htuch shorter than
the d isk ; the innermost resembling the chaff: rays 7-12: achenia usually
wingless, with short awns : flowers yellow: leaves closely sessile, mostly opposite,
not at all decurrent.—A p t e r o n .
4. A . nudicaulis (Nutt.): scabrous-hirsute ; stem wingless, paniculately
branched at the summit; the branches slender, naked above ; leaves oval or
lanceolate-oblong, sharply and unequally serrate, obtuse or rather acute, sessile
by a slightly cordate base ; the uppermost alternate or scattered ; heads
irregularly corymbose; rays linear, elongated; achenia obovate-oblong, occasionally
winged on one or both sides.—Nutt. ! in trans. Amer. phil. soc.
(n. ser.) 7. p. 364. Helianthus? aristatus, E ll.! sk. 2. p. 428.
Dry sterile soil, Georgia ! Alabama! and Middle Florida! Aug.-Nov.—
Stem 2-3 feet high, often simple. Leaves 2-3 inches long, 1-1J broad.
Heads small, 2-5 on each erect branch ; the central or primary on a short
peduncle; the lateral on slender spreading peduncles. Chaff ovate-lanceolate,
acute, longer than the achenia. Awns erect, variable and somewhat
unequal, but usually much shorter than the achenia.—Elliott suspected this
plant to belong to Actinomeris, of which there is no doubt: although the
achenia are generally wingless, or obscurely margined near the summit, a
few of them are sometimes furnished with a conspicuous wing on one or both
sides : the heads resemble the preceding section.
§ 5 ? Awns of the winged achenia obsolete: leaves opposite, decurrent on the
stem: pedun,cles naked, elongated: rays 3-4.—Aceleta, Nutt.
5. A .? pauciflora (Nutt.): hirsute; leaves elliptical, obtuse, serrulate;
peduncles very long, bearing 2 heads ; achenia with a shallow cup at the
summit.—Nutt. ! in Sill. jour. 5. p. 301, trans. Amer. phil. soc. 1. c.
East Florida, Mr. Ware.—Achenia obovate-oblong, with a conspicuous
wing, which extends across the summit, and forms a slight cup.
Div. 3. C o r e o p s i d e e , DC. (excl. gen.)—Rays neutral, ligulate, or
very rarely wanting. Achenia obcompressed (that is, flattened parallel with
the scales of the involucre), not rostrate. Pappus 2- (rarely 4-) toothed or
awned (sometimes obscurely coroniform), or none; the awns or teeth often
upwardly, but never retrorsely hispid.
100. AGARISTA. DC. prodr. 5. p. 569; not of Don.
Heads many-flowered ; the ray-flowers (8- 10) neutral; those of the disk
tubular, perfect. Involucre broadly campanulate, double ; the exterior of (4,
DC.) usually^ broadly ovate somewhat foliaceous scales, united at the base;
the interior of ,8 oblong-ovate acute somewhat membranaceous scales, longer
than the exterior series. Receptacle flat; the chaff membranaceous or
somewhat hyaline, linear-lanceolate, deciduous with the fruit. Rays obo-
vate-cuneiform, truncate at the summit, many-nerved. Corolla of the disk
with a long and slender tube, and an infundibuliform-campanulate deeply
5-toothed limb. Branches of the style tipped with a short mucronulate cone.
Achenia obcompressed; those of the ray sterile, (but often containing an
abortive ovule) oval, glabrous, margined, destitute of pappus ; of the disk
oblong or elliptical, with a large basilar callus, densely villous with very
long hairs, except the exterior surface in contact with the chaff. Pappus of
2 lanceolate 1 -ribbed chaffy scales, arising from the angles of the achenia,
about as long as the corolla, deciduous.—An annual very glabrous herb, with
vol. ii.—43