210 Key to the System of 



concealing the calyces ; bracteoles long, narrow-lanceolar 

 and somewhat navicular, inserted on the calyx-tube above 

 its base ; calyx invested outside with appressed silver- 

 shining hairlets, its lobes about as long as the tube ; fruit 

 much compressed, pointed, densely beset with silky- 

 shining hairlets. P. paleacea. 



Branchlets slightly enveloped by the brownish stipules 992 



992. Leaves rather flaccid. 



A rather low shrub, much beset with scattered spreading 

 soft hairlets ; leaves of thin texture, from ovate- to 

 elliptic-lanceolar, often almost flat, terminating in a 

 bristlet ; stipules high - connected, capillary pointed ; 

 flowers in dense headlets, each provided with a short 

 stalklet ; bracteoles very narrow, inserted above the base 

 of the calyx ; lobes of the calyx thinly pointed ; fruit 

 very acute. P. mucronata. 



Leaves quite rigid. 



A robust shrub ; leaves very firm, from linear- to lanceolar- 

 elliptical, often sharp-pointed, mostly invested underneath 

 with appressed silver-shining hairlets; flowers rather large, - 

 few in each headlet ; bracteoles navicular-lanceolar, in- 

 serted on the tube of the calyx; lobes of the calyx consider- 

 ably shorter than the tube ; the whole calyx outside 

 invested with silver-shining hairlets as well as the outside 

 of the ovulary ; seeds almost black, oblique-ellipsoid, 

 shining, smooth ; arillar appendage pale, lobular-crisped. 



P. Benthami. 



993. Flowers solitary, but terminal ... ... ... 994 



Flowers in clusters or spikes ... ... ... ... 995 



994. Erect. 



A rather tall shrub, mainly sub-alpine, somewhat beset 

 with shining hairlets ; leaves rather small, from lanceolar 

 to linear, channelled, almost pungently pointed, often 

 lined with three prominent venules, glabrous above ; 

 stipules rather elongated ; each flower surrounded by 

 bracts ; bracteoles ovate-elliptical, nearly as long as the 

 calyx and inserted below its base ; lobes of the calyx 

 pointed ; fruit oblique-ovate, somewhat turgid. 



P. Muelleri. 



Prostrate. 



Much beset with silver-shining short hairlets ; leaves linear- 

 cylindrical, blunt, quite small, channelled ; stipules very 



