Villanova
(named after Tomas M. Villanova, 1757-1802, Professor of Botany at Valencia). ORD. Compositae. A small genus (six or seven species) of greenhouse or hardy, diffuse, glandular-pubescent herbs, inhabiting Peru, Columbia, and Mexico. Flower-heads yellow, heterogamous, pedunculate, irregularly paniculate or corymbose; involucre campanulate, with a few sub-equal bracts; receptacle small, naked; ray florets ligulate, three-toothed; disk florets five-cleft; achenes glabrous. Lower leaves (or all) opposite, the upper ones often alternate, ternately or pinnately dissected, often few-lobed. V. chrysanthemoides, the only species introduced, is a hardy annual. Seeds should be sown on the open border, in April.
V. chrysanthemoides (Chrysanthemum-like). fl.-heads 1in. in diameter; ray florets fifteen to twenty; peduncles stout, glandular, naked or with one or more imperfect leaves. September. l. alternate, petiolate, 2in. long and broad, twice ternately cut into linear or obovate, laciniate, recurved lobes. Stem grooved, leafy, erect. h. 1ft. to 2ft. Rocky Mountains, 1878. (B. M. 6422.)