Eryngium purpusii Hemsl. & Rose

Eryngium purpusii Hemsl. & Rose; Rose, Contr. U. S. Nat Herb. 13:311. 1911.
Eryngium Loesenerianum H. Wolff in Engler, Pflanzenreich 61 (4 228 ): 255. 1913.
Slender, caulescent, glabrous perennials, 5-8 dm. high, from a short tuberous vertical rootstock bearing fibrous roots, the stems solitary, simple below, erect; basal leaves numerous, coriaceous, linear-lanceolate, 1-3.5 dm. long, 1-2 cm. broad, broadest at the base, acuminate at the apex, coarsely spinose-lobed, axillary spines present, the lobes stout, spreading nearly at right angles, the longest 6-10 mm. long, the venation parallel; sheaths as broad as the blades, vaginate, 2-7 cm. long; cauline leaves few, like the basal but amplexicaul, ascending, conspicuously spinose-lobed, the uppermost reduced and opposite, spinose; inflorescence cymose, compact, the heads large, few, pedunculate, the flowers numerous; heads ovoid, 1.5-2 cm. long, 1-1.5 cm. broad; bracts about 10, rigid, spreading, linear-lanceolate, S— 12 mm. long, 1-3 mm. broad, pungent, entire or few-toothed, much shorter than the heads; bractlets linearlanceolate, 5-6 mm. long, pungent, entire, exceeding the fruit; coma wanting; sepals ovatelanceolate, about 1.5 mm. long, obtuse, mucronulate; petals oblong, about 1.5 mm. long; styles slender, exceeding the sepals; fruit turbinate, about 3 mm. long, the calycine scales ovate or lanceolate, small, the lateral forming marginal wings, the faces naked.
Type locality: Cerro de Cacolotl, Puebla, Purpus 4105 {"4109"). Distribution: Puebla and Oaxaca (Camp 2243, Seler 90).