Trixis
(from trixos, triple; alluding to the three-celled, triangular capsule). SYNS. Castra, Perdicium (in part). ORD. Compositae. A genus embracing about thirty species of stove or greenhouse herbs or shrubs, of variable habit, natives of Central and South America and the West Indies. Flower-heads yellow or whitish; florets bilabiate, the outer lip three-toothed, the inner bipartite or bifid; involucral bracts often two-seriate; receptacle small; pappus bristles copious. Leaves alternate, sometimes decurrent. The two members of the genus which have been introduced are described below. Both thrive in a compost of sandy loam and leaf mould. T. divaricata auriculata requires the protection of a warm greenhouse in winter; it may be increased by cuttings, inserted in sand, under a bell glass, in May. Seeds of T. senecioides should be sown in the open ground, in April. T. auriculata (eared). A synonym of T. divaricata auriculata. T. divaricata auriculata (divaricate, eared). fl.-heads white or yellowish-white; involucral scales acuminate. August and September. l. sessile, oval-lanceolate, acuminate, denticulate, nearly glabrous, dilated at base into obtuse auricles. Stems climbing, suffruticose. h. 1 1/2ft. Brazil, 1827. (B. M. 2765, under name of T. auriculata.) T. senecioides (Senecio-like). fl.-heads white, solitary, on long peduncles; involucral scales in two or three series. August and September. l. all sessile and amplexicaul, oblong, sinuate-lobed, toothed, pilose-glandular above, slightly woolly beneath. Stems branched from the base, panicled, pubescent and pilose-glandular. h. 1ft. Chili, 1821. Annual. (H. E. F. 101.)