Tab. 7625. 



PODOTHECA CHRYSANTHA. 



Native of Western Australia. 



Nat. Orel. Composite. — Tribe Inuldide.e. 

 (ienns Podotiieca, Cass.; (Benth. & Hook.f. Gen. Plant, vol. ii. p. 315.) 



Podotiieca chrysantha ; herba annua, 1-lg-pedalis, erecta, ramosa, glabra v. 

 scaberula, laxe foliosa, foliis 1-3-pollicaribus basi latis sessilibus linearibus 

 obtusis patenti-recurvis utrinque scaberulis, capitulis ad apices ramulorum 

 solitariia, pedunculis apice incrassato intus vacuo, involucro late tur- 

 binato-campanulato £— § poll, longo, bracteia erectis exterioribus herbaceia 

 subaBquilongis lanceolatis obtusis 3-nerviis laxe pilosis interioribus 2-3- 

 seriatia linearibus lineari-spathulatisve hyalinis, receptaculo demum 

 tumido tuberculato, floribus perplurirnis omnibus hermaphroditis in- 

 volucro longioribus, corollas aureas tubo pergracili elongato decurvo, 

 lobis ovato-rotundatis, antherarum caudibus tenuissimis laceris, con- 

 nectivo apice producto unguiformi, styli ramis elongatis gracilibus 

 recurvis, stigmatibus capitellatis, pappi setis 8-10 filiformibus rigidia 

 barbellatis, achenio angusto teretiusculo basi subulato bispido- 

 pubescente. 



P. chrysantha, Benth. Flor. Austral, vol. iii. p. 602. 

 Ixiolasna chrysantha, Steetz, in Plant. Preiss. vol. i. p. 459. 



Podotiieca is a small genus of six species, all confined 

 to Western Australia. One only has been, previously 

 to this date, figured from plants raised in this country, 

 it is the P. gnajihaloides, Grab. (tab. 3920) ; a species 

 remarkable for the great length of the involucre, the 

 bracts of which are very unequal in length. P. chry- 

 santha is a native of Western Australia, from the Swan to 

 the Murchison Rivers. It differs from the generic 

 character in the filiform pappus hairs, which are barbel late 

 (not plumose), and in the achenes wanting a distinct stipes. 

 The specimen figured was raised from seeds presented 

 to the Royal Gardens in 1896 by Miss Bunbury, of 

 Picton, W. Australia. It flowered in a cool house in May, 

 1897. 



Descr. — An erect, annual, slender, branching herb, twelve 

 to eighteen inches high, glabrous or scaberulous on the 

 stem and leaves. Leaves scattered, sessile by a broad 

 base, two to three inches long by about one-sixth of an inch 

 broad, linear, obtuse, spreading, and recurved. Heads soli- 

 tary, terminating the branches, one to one and a half inches 

 November 1st, 1898. 



