268 COMPOSIT (Harv.) | Metalasia. 
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VAR. a linearifolia ; lys. linear-involute ; heads several in the glomerule. 
_ Var. 8. gracilis; lvs. linear; heads about 3inatuft; stems very slender. C. Wright, 
Ant -354 368. 
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Van. y ? purpurascens (DC.); ‘‘ lvs. lanceolate or oblongo-lanceolate, open, twisted; 
* stems robust; inv. scales purple.” M. divergens, var. purpurascens, DC. ex pte.? 
_ Has. About Capetown, and generally in the Western districts, frequent. (Herb. 
Th., Cap., D., Hk., Sd.) ; 
A very straggling bush, 12-18 inches long, distantly branched. Leaves 3-5 lines 
long, }-1 line wide, widely spreading. Young plant often all over woolly. Many, 
at least, of Ecklon’s distributed specimens of var. purpurascens, belong to M. Cepha- 
lotes; e. g. those in Hb. Cap. and D.; that in Hb. Sond. which is in a very bad 
state, is doubtful. 
7. M. capitata (Less.! Syn. 337); divaricately branched, branches 
tomentose; leaves linear, involute, spirally twisted, mucronate, gemmu- 
liferous, glabrous externally ; heads numerous (20-30), cylindrical, 3- 
flowered, sessile in a terminal, simple, exinvolucrate tuft ; invol. gla- 
brescent, the outer scales appressed, ovate, acute, the inner uniseriate, 
linear-oblong, often brown-tipped, obtuse. DC./ 1. ¢.253. M. ericoides, 
Steb./ 15. Gnaph. capitatum, Lam. fide Less.! non Thunb. 
Has. On the Cape Flats, Sieber! Ecklon! (Herb. Hk., Sd., Cap.) 
Intermediate in habit between M. cephalotes and M. divergens, but with much 
less glomerated inflorescence ; the heads, though sessile and closely tufted, stand 
apart from each other, and are not woolly, and the leaves immediately under the 
tuft are either obsolete or very small. 
8. M. adunca (Less.! Syn. 341); leaves linear, involute, hook-pointed, 
erecto-patent, not spirally twisted, without axillary leaf-tufts ; heads 
cylindr., 5-flowered, sessile or subsessile in bracteated tufts or capitate 
corymbs; inv, glabrescent or slightly cobwebbed below, the outer scales 
close-pressed, oblong, mucronate, Inner narrow-oblong, obtuse, wniseri- 
ate, white, spreading. DC./ 1. c. 253. Gnaph. muricatum, Th.! Cap. 
644, ex pte. 
Has. Cape, Thunberg/ near Constantia, Mundt/ Cape Flats, Ecklon, Drege / 
(Herb. Th., Hk., Sd.) 
Readily known by its hook-pointed, untwisted, scattered leaves. Leaves 4-5 lines 
long, 3 line diam. Inv. white, the petaloid scales much longer than the calycine. 
9. M. Lichtensteinii (Less. Syn. 335); robust, thinly woolly or gla- 
brate ; leaves linear, rigid, pungent-mucronate, spirally twisted, crowded, 
spreading, gemmuliferous ; heads oblong, 8—10-fl., in a simple or com- 
pound corymb, the pedicels mostly shorter than the heads, woolly; 
outer inv. scales cobwebbed, acuminate, rufous-tipped, inner pluri-seri- 
ate, rosulate, subequal, oblong, spreading, milk-white, acute or subacute, 
or keeled and mucronulate ; pappus obtuse, club-shaped. DCJ. c. 253- 
Has. In the interior, Lichtenstein; Burchell, No. 8182, Bowie } Hott.-Holl.-berge, 
Eckl.! Zey.} 2910. (Herb. Hk., Sd., Cap., D.) 
A robust, erect, branching bush. Leaves shining, very pungent and closely set, 
4-5 lines long, strongly spiral. Heads 10-20 or more in acorymb ; in the luxuriant 
‘Specimens the pedune. are 2-3-headed. 
10. M. nitidula (Harv.); stems erect, rigid, much branched ; branches 
gla _or nearly so; leaves linear-involute, narrowed at base, mucro- 
nate, twisted, glabrous and glossy, rather closely set, mostly without 
