Sanvitalia
(so-called after the Sanvitali family, of Parma). SYN. Lorentea. ORD. Compositae. A small genus (three or four species) of stove or half-hardy, annual or perennial herbs, inhabiting the Mexican region. Flower-heads yellow or whitish, rather small or mediocre, the disk often purplish; ray florets one or two-seriate; involucral bracts in two or three series; receptacle flat or convex; achenes glabrous, those of the ray having three arms. Leaves all opposite, entire. S. procumbens is in cultivation. It is a half-hardy, much-branched trailer, thriving in a mixture of light, sandy loam and peat, and may be increased by seeds.
S. procumbens (procumbent). fl.-heads small, like those of a species of Rudbeckia, having a bright yellow ray and a dark disk; outer achenes of the disk muricated. July. l. ovate, entire. Stem procumbent or diffuse. 1798. (B. R. 707.) There is also a double-flowered variety.