Tas, 8205, 
OLEARIA RAMULOSA, var. COMMUNIS. 
Australia. 
ComposiTaE. Tribe AsTEROIDEAE. 
OxgaRiA, Moench.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ii. p. 276. 
Olearia ramulosa, var. Somiinia: Benth. Flora Austral. vol. iii. p. 476 ; 
affinis 0. floribundae, Benth., a qua foliis longioribus et capitulis minoribus 
paucioribus differt. 
Frutex ramosus, 1-2 m. altus, ramis gracilibus teretibus magis minusve 
scabrido-pubescentibus. Folia lineari-lanceolata vel oblanceolata, integra, 
usque ad 1 cm. longa et 2 mm. lata, supra glaberrima vel muricato-scabrida, 
subtus lanata, marginibus recurvis. Capitula circiter 1-5 cm. diametro, 
ramulos breves laterales terminantia. Involucri bracteae 3-seriatae, 
oblongae, usque ad 4 mm. longae et 1 mm. latae, apice pubescentes, 
marginibus scariosis ciliatis. Flores radii circiter 9, albi; corollae 
tubus 3 mm, longus, extus parce pilosus ; lamina elliptica, 4 mm. longa, 
4-nervia, obtusa. Flores disci circiter 12; tubus 2:5 mm. longus, lobis 
acutis 1 mm. longis. Antherae apiculatae, 1 mm. longae. Styli rami 
papillosi, Achaenia 1 mm. longa, leviter compressa, parce pilosa. Pappi 
setae 2°5 mm. longae.—Aster ramulosus, Labill. Pl. Nov. Holl. vol. ii. dl, 
t. 198. A. aculeatus, Labill. lc. 52, t. 200, -A, exasperatus, Link, Enum. 
Hort. Berol. ii. 828. Diplostephium aculeatum, Nees, Gen. et Sp. 192. 
D. ramulosum, Nees, l.c. 193, Hurybia ramulosa, E. propinqua, E. aculeata, 
. epileia, DC. Prod. vol. v. 270. H. ericoides, Steetz in Pl. Preiss, 1, 423. 
About fifteen species of this exclusively Australasian 
genus are now cultivated in this country, and of these the 
plant here figured is probably the most graceful. It is 
widely spread in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania 
and South Australia, and ts frequently found growing in 
waste places. : 
Bentham, in the Flora Australiensis, distinguishes two 
forms, a. microphylla and b. communis, and whether these be 
separable as species it is difficult to decide without a know- 
ledge of the plants in the wild state. Those grown at Kew 
are strikingly uniform in habit, as well as in the shape of 
the leaves and size of the flowers, but the dried specimens 
preserved in the Herbarium show great variation. 
Descriprion.— Shrub, 3-6 ft. high with slender, terete, 
more or less scabrous, pubescent branches. Leaves linear- 
JuLy, 1908. 
