Heterotheca
(from heteros, variable, and theca, a sheath; in reference to the shape of the achenes). SYNS. Calycium and Diplocoma. ORD. Compositae. A genus of hairy or glabrous, erect, hardy or half-hardy herbs. Seven species have been enumerated (which may probably be reduced to about five), natives of North America and Mexico. H. inuloides-probably the only one in cultivation-is a pretty plant, adapted for culture in ordinary garden soil, but requires protection in winter. Propagated by seeds, or by divisions. H. inuloides (Inula-like). fl. yellow, large; involucre many-leaved, closely imbricate, villosely hairy; receptacle honey-combed; corymbs loosely spreading, branched; peduncles very hairy. Summer. l. ovate-oblong, entire, hairy on both sides and fringed at the margins; root ones ovate, obtuse, bluntly toothed; stem ones sessile, somewhat amplexicaul, variable in shape. Stems 1ft. to 1 1/2ft. high. Mexico, 1826. (S. B. F. G. 246, under name of Diplocoma villosa.)