C 881 ] 



Protea Stellaris. Starry Protea. 



Oafs and Order* 

 Tetrandria Monogynia. 



Generic CharaEter.-^-Vid. N<"*- 878. 



Specific Characler and Synonyms, 



PROTEA ftellaris $ foliis ovato-lanceolatis carnofis apice 

 callofis, capitulo hemifphaerico glabro terminali 

 involucrum radiatum concolor fubasquante. 



Descr. A low fhrub. Stem very much branched from the 

 bafe; branches fome fimple, others verticillately divided at the 

 upper part. Leaves fefhle, crowded, without order, lanceo- 

 late, narrowed towards the bafe, flefhy, concave, terminated 

 with a fmall callous point, thofe on the upper part of the 

 flowering branches fmooth, but fome of the lower ones and 

 thofe on the younger moots hairy underneath. Flowers yel- 

 lowifh green in a hemifphaerical terminal head, not downy, 

 furrounded at the bafe with a regular, radiated, fmooth in- 

 *volucre> projecting fomewhat beyond the head of flowers, of the 

 fame colour and fhape as the leaves. Within the involucre 

 are two or three rows of boat-fhaped brakes, hairy under- 

 neath, fhorter than the tube of the corolla, but the upper part 

 of the receptacle is without paleae. Corolla four-petaled : petals 

 linear, revolute, villous without, flightly adhering downwards 

 into a tube. Style erect, exferted : ftigma club-fhaped, fmooth, 

 greenifh. 



This plant is very nearly allied to Protea pallens and 

 contfera, two fpecies, the varieties of which, Thunberg allows 

 to be very difficultly diftinguifhed from each other ; nor is it 

 certain that the plants this Botaniit has defcribed under thefe 

 names are the fame as thofe of Linnaeus. 



We 



