Metalasia. | COMPOSIT ( Harv.) 269 
axillary tufts; heads few or many, subsessile in a compound, umbellate 
tuft, subtended by a few leaves ; inv. glabrate, the outer scales subcanes- 
cent, mucronate, the inner oblong, obtuse, rosy or white, imbricated in 
3-4 rows, I. erubescens, var. 8, rigidula, DC. l. ¢. 254. 
Has. Cape, Mundt.! Caledon, Ecklon! Babylonschetoornberg, Zey.! 2901. (Herb. 
Cap., Hk., Sd., D.) 
1-1} ft. high, robust, much branched, bushy, erect. Leaves 5—6 lines long, erecto- 
patent, curving outwards, occasionally gemmuliferous. The habit is very different 
from that of M. erubescens, which however it very closely approaches in character. 
11. M. erubescens (DC.! 1. c. 252); stems diffuse or procumbent, 
tomentulose or glabrate ; leaves linear-involute, mucronate, twisted, 
glabrous, squarrose or recurved, mostly (except in var. 8.) without axil- 
lary tufts ; heads several together, crowded in a condensed, subcompound 
corymb, cylindrical, 3-fl.; inv. glabrate, the outer scales acute or mucro- 
nate ; inner (petaloid) bi-triseriate, imbricate, oblong, acute, erect, con- 
cave, rosy or white. 
Var. 8.?, gemmulifera; leaves shorter, more closely set, moreorless gemmuliferous. 
M. intermedia, DC. 1. c. 253. 
Has. Stellenbosch, Ecklon! Swellendam, Mundt.! Zwarteberg, Dr. Pappe/ B. 
in Caledon, Ecklon! Pappe! (Herb. Cap., D., Sd., Hk.) 
The normal form has the aspect of M. tenuifolia, from which it chiefly differs in 
the involucres. Its leaves are 4-6 lines long. 8. has leaves from 2-4 lines long, 
almost always with leaf-tufts in the axils. Its involucre offers no character. I 
have some hesitation in uniting it to this species. 
12, M. seriphiifolia (DC.! 1. c. 255); slender, flexuous-erect, the 
branches tomentose ; leaves linear-setaceous, involute, spirally twisted, 
mucronate, squarrose, very gemmuliferous in the axils; heads 3-f1., ina 
densely fascicled, globose, branching corymb, the pedicels very short ; 
inv. cobwebbed or woolly at base, the outer scales subulate-acuminate, 
the inner pluriseriate, imbricate, lanceolate, acute, rosy-purple. 
Has. District of Caledon, Ecklon! (Herb. Cap., Sond.) 
A slender, distantly branched bush, the branches flexuous, erect. Leaves very 
slender, as thick as bristle, 3-5 lines long, with dense leaf-tufts in the axils. Capitate- 
corymb #$ inch diameter. Apparently a distinct species. 
18. M. tenuifolia (DC.! 1. c. 253) ; stems diffuse, flexuous, glabrate ; 
leaves linear-involute, mucronate, twisted, glabrous, without axillary 
tufts; heads few together, subsessile in a subsimple, condensed corymb, 
cylindrical, 3-flowered, subtended by 2-3 leaves; inv. glabrate, the outer 
scales subulate, acuminate; inner(petaloid) subuniseriate, narrow-oblong, 
concave, subacute, erect. 
Has. Distr. of Caledon, Ecklon! Drege/ (Herb. Hk., D., Sd.) 
Stems 1-2 ft. long, diffuse or procumbent. Leaves 5-7 lines long. Heads 3-4 
in a tuft, 4 or more such tufts in a nearly capitate fascicle. Nearly allied to M. 
, from which it differs chiefly in the few, subuniseriate petaloid scales of 
the involucre. 
14, M. quinqueflora (DC.! 1. c. 254); stems diffuse or tufted, flexuous, 
at first tomentose, then glabrate ; leaves linear-involute, mucronate, 
twisted, glabrous, with or without axillary tufts, heads few or many, 
subsessile in a slightly compound, subumbellate tuft, cylindrical, 5-f1., 
