nate, or sometimes opposite or ternate, obovato-lanceolate, acute 
and mucronate, entire, tapering below into a very short petiole. 
At the setting on of a branch or of a leaf, are frequently one or 
two short straight acicular spines, half an inch long. Head or 
capitulum of flowers large, handsome, solitary, sessile upon the 
apex of a branch, with two or three leaves at the base. Jnvo- 
lucre long, cylindrical, swollen at the base. Scales numerous, 
imbricated, appressed, the lower ones broadly ovate, crowded, 
acute or mucronate, the upper ones gradually becoming longer, 
almost linear, erect, rose-coloured, with a white edge. Florets ligu- 
late, two-lipped ; outer lip deep rich rose-colour, with about four 
teeth, inner filiform, spreading : tube of the corolla hairy. Anthers 
united, shorter than the style ; stigma obliquely truncate. Ache- 
mum (ummature) hairy. Pappus likewise hairy or villous. 
Fig. 2. Floret. 2. Portion of the hairy pappus. 3. Young floret, the corolla 
not yet expanded :—magnified. 
