Dioecious shrubs or herbs, with alternate leaves, and paniculate or corymbose heads of tubular flowers. Involucre campanulate in our species, its bracts imbricated in several series, the outer shorter. Receptacle flat, naked, commonly foveolate. Corolla of the pistillate flowers slender, that of the staminate tubular, 5-lobed. Anthers obtuse and entire at the base. Style-branches narrow or subulate, those of the fertile flowers smooth, exserted, those of the sterile flowers rudimentary, tipped with an ovate pubescent appendage. Achenes more or less compressed, ribbed. Pappus of the fertile flowers copious, capillary, that of the sterile flowers short. [Named for Bacchus; originally applied to some different shrubs.]

About 300 species, all American, most abundant in South America. Besides the following, some 18 others occur in the southern and western United States. Type species: Baccharis ivifolia L. Shrubs; pappus of fertile flowers in 1 or 2 series.

Leaves oblong, or lance-oblong, mostly obtuse, sparingly dentate.

1. B. salicina.

Leaves deltoid-obovate, or oblong, the lower coarsely dentate.

2. B. halimifolia.

Leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, mostly acute, sparingly dentate.

3. B. neqlecta.

Herbaceous, from a woody base; pappus of fertile flowers in several series.

4. B. Wrightii.

1. Baccharis Salicina T. & G. Willow Bac-Charis

Fig. 4384

Baccharis salicina T. & G. Fl. N. A. 2: 258. 1841.

A glabrous glutinous much-branched shrub, 3°-6° high, the branches ascending. Leaves firm, oblong-lanceolate or somewhat oblanceolate, more or less conspicuously 3-nerved, mostly obtuse at the apex, narrowed into a cuneate subsessile base, 1'-1 1/2' long, 2"-6" wide, sparingly repand-dentate, or entire; heads in peduncled clusters of 1-7, the involucre of both sterile and fertile ones campanulate, 2 1/2'-3" high, its bracts ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acute or subacute; pappus usually but a single series of nearly white capillary bristles.

Western Kansas and eastern Colorado to Texas and New Mexico. May-July.

2. Baccharis Halimifolia L. Groundsel-Tree Or -Bush. Pencil-Tree

Fig. 4385

Baccharis halimifolia L. Sp. Pl. 860. 1753.

A branching glabrous shrub, 3°-10° high, the branch-lets angled, sometimes minutely scurfy. Leaves thick, those of the stem and larger branches obovate or del-toid-obovate, obtuse, petioled, coarsely angular-dentate, 1'-3' long, 1/2'-2' wide, those of the branchlets oblanceolate, short-petioled or sessile, entire, or few-toothed toward the apex; heads in peduncled clusters of 1-5, those of the sterile plant nearly globose when young, the bracts.of the involucre oblong-ovate, obtuse, glutinous, appressed, the inner ones of the pistillate heads lanceolate, acute or acutish; fertile pappus bright white, 3"-4" long, of 1-2 series of capillary bristles, much exceeding the involucre.

Along salt marshes and tidal rivers, extending beyond saline influence, Massachusetts to Florida and Texas. Bahamas; Cuba. The white pappus is very conspicuous in autumn. Cotton-seed tree. Ploughman's-spikenard. Sept.-Nov.

Baccharis glomeruliflora Pers., which has larger heads glomerate in the axils of the upper leaves, is doubtfully reported from southern Virginia, but occurs along the coast from North Carolina to Florida, and in Bermuda.

3. Baccharis Neglecta Britton. Linear-Leaved Baccharis

Fig. 4386

Baccharis neglecta Britton, in Britt. & Brown, 111. Fl. 3: 394. 1898.

A much-branched, glabrous or slightly glutinous shrub, 30 high or more, the branches paniculate, slender, ascending. Leaves narrowly linear to linear-lanceolate, faintly 3-nerved, acute, or the lower subobtuse at the apex, gradually attenuate into a nearly sessile base, 1'-3' long, 1"-3" wide, entire, or remotely dentate or denticulate, green in drying; heads in short-peduncled clusters; involucre of both kinds of heads campanulate, 2" high, its outer bracts ovate, acute or somewhat obtuse, the inner lanceolate, acuminate; pappus of the fertile flowers a single series of capillary dull-white bristles.

Nebraska to Texas and North Mexico. July-Sept.

4. Baccharis Wrightii A. Gray. Wright's Baccharis

Fig. 4387

Baccharis Wrightii A. Gray, Pl. Wright. 1: 101. 1852.

Herbaceous from a thick woody base, much branched, glabrous, not glutinous, 1°-3° high, the branches straight, nearly erect, slender, striate. Leaves linear, sessile, 1-nerved, entire, 3"-12" long, 1/2"-1" wide; heads solitary at the ends of the branches, 5"-6" broad; involucre of the sterile heads hemispheric, about 3" high, that of the fertile ones somewhat campanulate and longer; bracts of both involucres lanceolate, acuminate, with scarious margins and a green back; pappus of the fertile flowers of several series of tawny or purplish capillary bristles.

Western Kansas and Colorado to Texas, Arizona and Chihuahua. April-July.