Flora Medica

ASTERACE^l.Nai. syst. ed. 2. p. 253.VERNONIA.Head few or many-flowered, equal flowered. Involucre imbricated,shorter than the florets, with the inner scales longest.Receptacle naked, or rarely honey-combed and fringed. Corollaregular, 5-cleft, with the lobes in the entire part nearlyequal. Filaments smooth. AchaBnium with a cartilaginouscallus at the base, and a large epigynous disk. Pappus usuallyin 2 rows, of which the inner is setiform and much longer thanthe outer which is paleaceous ; rarely in 2 equal rows. DC.901. V. anthelmintica Willd. iii. 1634. DC.prodr.v. 61.Conyza anthelmintica Linn. sp. pi. 1207. Serratula anthelminticaRoxb. fl.ind. iii. 405. Ascaricida indica Cass. diet. iii.suppl. p. 38. (Burm. zeyl. t. 95. Rheede ii. t. 24.) Commonin the Eastamong rubbish, and in dry uncultivated groundIndies.Stem erect, branched, round, clouded with elevated purple spots,slightly downy, 2-3 feet high. Leaves ovate or oval-oblong, acuminateat each end, coarsely serrated, downy. Heads corymbose, each containing40-45 florets. Scales of involucre lanceolate-linear, acute ;theouter somewhat spreading, leafy, and obovate-linear. Achaenia oblong,taper, hispid. Outer row of pappus very short and paleaceous. Thefruit is accounted in India a very powerful anthelmintic.ELEPHANTOPUS,Heads containing 3-4-5 florets, equal-flowered, closely collectedinto a cluster surrounded by leaves. Involucre compressed,in 2 rows ; leaflets dry, oblong, alternately flat andfolded, the inner usually 3-nerved. Receptacle naked. Corollapalmate, with a 5-cleft limb, which has acuminate segments, and1 recess deeper than the others. Filaments smooth ;branchesof style half-subulate. Achaenium rather compressed, manyribbed, oblong, hairy. Pappus in 1 row, consisting of severalstraight palese, dilated at the base, but otherwise very narrow,acuminate, equal, and serrated. DC.902. E. scaber Linn. sp. pi. 1313. Roxb. fl.ind. iii. 445.DC.prodr.v.86. (Dill. elth. 126. 1. 106. J3reyn.ic.32. t.34.)Common in almost all parts of India, in a dry elevated soil.Root fibrous, scarcely more than biennial. Stem hairy, dichotomouslybranched, round, about a foot high. Leaves chiefly radical,scabrous, crenated, cuneate, very much narrowed at the base ;those of4*9 G G