Metalasia. | _ COMPOSIT (Harv.) 271 
Var. a. obtusiuscula; lvs. linear-involute spiral; outer inv. scales subacute or 
Naa inner obtuse or subacute. M. muricata, DO.! l.c. 249. Zey.! 2898, 
2899. 
Var. 8. phylicoides; lvs. elliptic-oblong, flattish, twisted at base only, white be- 
neath, the margin only involute; heads as in a. M. phylicoides, Don, l. c. 559. 
DC. 1. c. 250. 
Var. y. aFistata; lvs. as in a. ; outer inv. scales cuspidate-acuminate ; inner 
acute or subacute. MM. aristata, DC./ Ll. c. 250. 
Var. 5. pungens; lvs. as in a, but more pungent; outer inv. scales taper-pointed, 
aristate, pungent ; inner acute or acuminate. M. pungens, Don. DC. l. ¢. 251. 
Var. e. tomentosa; lvs. as in 8, but very woolly ; inv. scales nearly asin y. M. 
lanceolata, var. tomentosa, DC.! 1. ¢. 
Has. Common throughout the Colony, extending eastward to Natal. (Herb, 
Th., D., Hk., Cap.) 
Very variable in size, branching, and woolliness, and in the shape of the involucral 
scales, especially the outer ones. It is commonly erect, with level-topped branches, 
sometimes diffuse or straggling. Leaves 3-6-8 lines long, 4 line wide, or in 8. and e. 
1-2 lines wide, mostly glabrous externally, but varying to cobwebby or very woolly. 
Heads 3 lines long, $ line diameter. I can find no absolute and permanent characters 
between the above varieties ; all grades of bluntness or sharpness may be found in 
the inv. scales, and in the expanded or involute, blunt or pungent leaves. The 
more numerous the specimens examined, the less possible is it to distinguish the 
varieties from one another. 
18. M. stricta (Less. Syn. 336); branches tomentose; leaves linear, 
pungent-mucronate, involute, spirally twisted, with leaf-tufts ; heads 
very many in a branching, woolly, hemispherical corymb, 3—5-fl.; inv. 
thinly cobwebbed, the outer scales rufous, taper-pointed, aristate, sguar- 
rose-refleced; inner sub-biseriate, tawny-yellowish or dirty-white, acute 
or acuminate. DC. l. ¢. 251. 
Var. 8. Dregeana; more branching, more glabrous, sometimes with whiter inv. 
scales. M. Dregeana, DC. l. c. 
Has. Hangklipp, Mundt § Maire; Paarlberg, Drege! 8. also at Paarlberg, Drege / 
Doornkopf, Burke! Cape, Dr. Wallich! (Herb. Hook., D., Sd.) 
Robust, either virgate or ramulous, with thinly or thickly woolly branches. Lys. 
as in M. muricata. Outer inv. scales with strongly recurved points, by which cha- 
racter, and the tawny inner, this is alone distinguishable from var. y. of Mf. muricata. 
I retain it, with some doubt, as a species, 
19. M. concinna (Harv.); diffusely branched ; leaves subulate-terete, 
mucronate, spreading, subspiral, gemmuliferous ; heads cylindrical, 5-f1., 
sessile in few-headed, pedunculate tufts, disposed in a branching, close 
corymb ; inv. cylindrical, cobwebbed at base, all the scales obtuse, the 
outer short, the inner with oblong, exserted, pluriseriate, convex, milk- 
white or rosy tips ; pappus clavate. I. cephalotes, DC.! l.c. p. 252, not 
of Lessing. 
Has. Districts of Caledon and —— acer. Swellendam, Dr. Thom/ On- 
derbokkeveldt, / erb. Hk., Sd., D., Cap. 
This rth the hens ay inflorescence of M. muricata; the habit of M. cephalotes, 
but not the inflorescence ; and the involucre, but not the foliage of M. fasciculata. 
Leaves 6-8 lines long, } line wide, the axillary leaves much smaller. Stems slightly 
branched, the branches curved. 
20. M. fasciculata (Don. 1. c. 657); corymbosely branched; leaves 
short, linear-terete, mucronate, spirally twisted, squarrose, gemmulifer- 
