Duscr. Stems numerous, from a small, annual roof, almost 
erect from the base, slender, one to two feet high, cylindrical, 
grooved, pale green. eaves linear, sessile, acuminate, almost 
decurrent, quite glabrous, pale green, paler beneath, one to one 
and a half inch long. Capztula very variable in size, half an inch 
to two inches broad, rose-coloured, with a bright yellow eye, the 
colour of which is due to the yellow tips of the pappus. Znvo- 
lucre broadly hemispherical, of very many scales: the outer small 
and short, scarious, pale olive-green or brownish, closely imbri- 
cated and spreading, broadly ovate, blunt: the inner gradually 
longer, sharper, and gradually becoming red at the somewhat 
rigid tips ; the three or four inner series are longest, linear-oblong, 
bright pink, radiating, but incurved, each sharp or obliquely 
truncated or notched at the point, and furnished with a broad 
concave claw. Receptacle quite flat, pitted towards the margin, 
papillose in the centre, covered loosely with short weak hairs. 
Flowers all tubular and hermaphrodite : the outer with large vil- 
lous achenia and exserted linear branches to the style: the inner 
with smoother abortive achenia and short blunt branches to the 
style. Pappus of about fifteen to twenty pales, flattened and 
connected at the base, gradually thickened upwards, owing to the 
longer and more densely placed hairs on their margins and sur- 
face, terminating in a yellow club-shaped brush. 
Fig. 1. Inner scale of the involucre. 2. Outer floret :—magnified. 
