Athanasia. | COMPOSIT (Harv.) 187 
_ Var. a. longifolium; leaves few or many times longer than the internodes. &, 
longifoliwm, Less.’ DC.! 1. c. 92. Tanacetum longifolium, Th.! Cap. 642. 
Var. 8. brevifolium; leaves scarcely longer than the internodes. S. linifoliwm, 
Less! Syn. DC.! l. c. 92. Tanacetum linifolium, Th.! Cap. 642. 
Has. Cape, Thunberg! Burchell, 5721, Mundt! Outenequaland, Drege! George, 
Dr. Prior! B, Langekloof, Th.! Clanwilliam, Ecklon. (Herb. Th,, Hk., D., Sd.) 
A tall, virgate, strong-growing, slightly branched suffrutex ; branches 1-2 ft. long, 
closely or sparsely leafy. Leaves in a, 2-3 inches, in 8, 8-12 lines long, scarcely 
1 line wide. Inv.-scales thick and glossy, finely serrato-ciliate, broadly ovate. Heads 
50-100-fl, Var. 8 merely differs in its shorter leaves, a most variable character, 
when many specimens are seen. Drege’s “8. linifolium” in some Herb. is “ Atha- 
nasia flexuosa,” 
2. S. oocephalum (DC. 1. c. 93); slender; leaves scattered, linear, 
flattish, obtuse, entire, obliquely erect, above slightly concave; corymb 
compound, loosely many-headed ; heads oblong, 15—20-flowered ; inv. 
scales oblong, obtuse, scarious, membrane-edged ; outer achenes sharply 
5-angled, inner abortive. 
Has. Near Swellendam, Burchell, 7462. Hassaquaskloof, Zey.! 2822. (Herb. 
Hook., Sd., D.) 
A slender suffrutex with the habit of Athanasia linifolia. Branches virgate. 
Leaves half an inch apart, 6-8 lines long, 1 line wide. Corymb 30-40-headed. 
Heads 2-3 lines long, pale straw-colour, the inv. scales thinnish and very blunt 
Zeyher’s plant (here described) seems to agree with the description of Burchell’s 
original, which I have not seen. 
3. S. (Asemia) axillare (Less. ! Syn. 264); diffusely much-branched, 
flexuous; leaves opposite, connate and slightly sheathing at base, linear- 
filiform, acute ; heads solitary, terminating minute, axillary, leafy ramuli ; 
invol. ovoid, its scales appressed, broad, obtuse, with a narrow, mem- 
branous border; achenes cuneate, sub-compressed, smooth. DC. l. c. 
p-93. Tanacetum axillare, Th.! Cap. 642. Asemia axillaris, Harv. MSS. 
in Hb. Thunb. ! 
Has. Cape, Thunberg/ (Herb. Thunb.) 
Root thick and woody. Whole plant glabrous, pale. Stems 1 foot or more in 
length, according to Thunberg “‘erect;” but, judging by the aspect of his dried 
specimens, seemingly very diffuse or prostrate. Leaves 1-1} inch long, not a line 
wide. Invol. 3-4 lines long, shorter than the flowers. Flowers yellow. Anthers 
tailless. Style-branches truncate. Very unlike other Stilpnophyta in habit, and 
perhaps better considered as the type of a separate genus, distinguished by the 
connate leaves, solitary heads, and sub-compressed (young) achenes. The name 
Asemia, proposed above, is derived from aonuos, obscure or ignoble; in contrast to 
the shining Stilpnophyta. 
LXXIV. ATHANASIA, Linn. 
Heads few- or many- flowered, discoid, homogamous. eceptacle 
bearing paleze between the flowers. nvol. imbricate, scarious (except 
in A. capitata, where the outer scales are large and leafy) in several 
rows, the outer short. Cor. 5-toothed. <Anth. without tails. Achenium 
oblong, sharply 5-angled or winged. Pappus either of several short, 
flat, unequal scales ; or of swollen, jointed, short, deciduous hairs; or 
none. Hymenolepis, Holophyllum, Athanasia, and Morysia, DC. Prodr. 
pp. 85, 86, go. 
Small shrubs or half-shrubby plants, strongly scented and glandular. Leaves 
