Emilia Cass.

Herbs, annual to perennial, glabrous to crispately pubescent; stems slender to robust, often glaucous. Leaves alternate very variable, entire, toothed or lyrate-pinnatifid; radical leaves few, simple, linear-lanceolate, usually auricled and amplexicaul. Inflorescence 1-few-headed, loosely branched corymb or subumbellate. Capitula blue, purple, pink or scarlet red, homogamous, discoid, cylindrical, small to medium sized, ebracteolate, long peduncled. Involucral bracts uniseriate, 8 - 10, linear-oblong, equal, coherent, imbricate, striate. Receptacle flat to convex, not pitted. Florets all tubular, hermaphrodite, very slender, corolla limb dilated, 5-lobed; lobes triangular to oblong-lanceolate, spreading. Stamens 5; filaments filiform; anther base obtuse, subentire. Style arms subterete with a short or elongate, acute or obtuse appendage, slightly recurved. Achenes subterete or angled, 5-ribbed, glabrous or scabrid on the angles. Pappus hairs copious, capillary, minutely scabrid.

S. Africa, S. China, Japan, Philippines and Sri Lanka; ca 30 species, 8 in India.

Literature. BALDWIN J.T. Jnr. (1946). Cytogeography of Emilia Cass. in the Americas Bull. Torry Bot. Club 73: 18 - 13. FOSBERG, F.R. (1972). Emilia (Compositae) in Ceylon J. Sci. (Bio. Sci.) 10: 61 - 69. GARABEDIAN, S. (1924). A revision of Emilia. Kew Bull. Misc.lnf. 1924: 137 - 144

KEY TO THE SPECIES

1a. Small, 3.5 - 20 mm tall herbs; leaves chiefly radical, scabrid; capitula pink purple; achenes 2 mm long. dirty brown, bispid

6. Emilia scabra

b. Herbs more than 20 cm tall; leaves both radical and cauline or only cauline

2

2a. Leaves only cauline

3

b. Leaves both radieal and cauline

7

3a. Weak herbs

4

b. Stout herbs

6

4a. Achenes glabrous; capitula scarlet-red

4. Emilia prenanthoides

b. Achenes hispid; capitula not as above

5

5a. Capitula pinkish lavender; florets exerted about 5 - 6 mm from the involucre

2. Emilia exserta

b. Capitula bright purple; florets exserted about 2 - 3 mm from the involucre

1. Emilia alstonii

6a. Stems much branched; leaves linear-oblong or spathulate, glabrous above and softly crispate hirsute beneath; margins recurved; capitula solitary, terminating long, naked peduncles

5. Emilia ramulosa

b. Stems simple, not much branched; leaves lanceolate, glabrous, margins entire or distantly serrate, not recurved; capitula in corymb on short peduncles

3. Emilia javanica

b. Capitula purple. Achenes hispid

8

8a. Leaves lyrately pinnatifid with triangular-ovate terminal lobe

7. Emilia sonchifolia

b. Leaves linear-oblong or oblanceolate

8. Emilia zeylanica

List of Lower Taxa