PLAXTS OF MADEIRA. 297 



13. Centaurea Massoniana^ Lowe. — C. inermis, caule fruticoso erecto 

 . prolifero-ramoso, ramis subcorymbosis superne (novcUis) albo-tomeii- 

 tosia Miosis, foliis lanceolatis utrinque acuminatis integerrimis rigi- 

 diusculo-membranaceis subfurfuraceo-scabriusculis nudis v. ad nervum 

 marginemque soluramodo tomentosulis I. floccosis, basi in petiolum 

 longe attenuatis, capitulis terminalibus solitariis longe pedunculatis 

 majusculis conico-globosis gl^bris, pedunculis nudis subfurfuraceo- 

 puberulis sulcatis sursum incrassatis sub anthodio tumidis, anthodii 

 squamis integerrimis oblongis latiusculis aj^ice breviter palmato-setu- 

 losis innocuis baud pungentibus internis purpurascentibus, omnibus 

 limbo nitidissimo glaberrimo Isevi marginatis. 

 C. mlkifolia, SoL MSS. "Madera, Tr. Masson, 1776," Herb. Banks. 



No. 81 ! non Bieb. (DC, vi. 571, No. 27.) 

 " C, salicifolia. C. calycibus palmato-subspinosis innocuis, foliis lan- 

 ceolatis acutis integerrimis subglabris petiolatis. 

 " Hab. In Madera inter rupes Pico do Eanxo, Fr. Masson." SoL MSS. 

 in Herb. Banks. 



It is surprising that this fine Centaurea^ discovered by Masson eighty 

 years ago, and preserved in both the Banksian and Smithian Herbaria, 

 has remained till now unpublished, although recognized and well defined 

 by Dr. Solander in his MSS. as distinct from every other known spe- 

 cies. Since 1838, when I first received from the late Dr. Charles Lemann 

 an account of the existence of this plant in the above-mentioned Her- 

 baria, I have repeatedly visited the supposed place of its growth, indi- 

 cated by Masson, viz. the Pico do Eancho, a lofty crag or cliflT over- 

 hanging the sea, five or six miles to the westward of Funchal, beyond 

 Camera de Lobos, but in vain ; and all inquiries and researches else- 

 where in the island, on the supposition that some other Pico do Rancho 

 might have been Masson's original habitat, have hitherto proved equally 

 unsuccessful. It is fortunate that the specimens preserved in the above- 

 named collections are fine, and in excellent condition, wanting nothing 

 but the florets and seeds, which have perished or been lost. 



The plant belongs however clearly to the thirteenth Section, Cheiro- 

 lophus, Cass., in De CandoUe (Prodr. vi. 577), of Centaurea; and hence 

 it will also probably, when the florets and seeds are known, be found 

 to come under the genus P lodmopappus of Boissier, The anthodia are 

 larger than in C. S€mpe7'virens, L., but with their upper or inner scales 

 from 6-10-fimbriate at the apex, as in that species. 



VOL, VIII. ^ ^ 



