PLATE 335. 



VEENONIA HIESUTA, Sch. Bip. (Fl. Cap. Vol. Ill, p. 51.) 

 Natural Order, COMPOSITE. 



An herbaceous, erect plant, bearing purple flowers. Stem erect, simple or 

 branched, striate, densely clothed with soft whitish curled hairs. Leaves sossiU-, 

 alternate, oblong, subcordate at base, margins obscurely crenato-serrate, often 

 slightly reflexed, apex obtuse or apiculate, upper surface bullate, finely and dis- 

 tantly pubescent, dark green in oldest specimens, midvein dark coloured, under 

 surface densely pilose with whitish hairs, many of which are forked ; veins, veinlets 

 and venules very prominent ; 1^ to 3-| inches long, f to 1-| inch wide. Inflores- 

 cence corymbose, many headed, usually flat topped, peduncles reaching to 1^ to 2 

 inches long, pedicels ^ to f inch long. Involucral scales oblong, acutely acuminate, 

 quite erect, densely pilose with whitish mostly forked hairs, as also are the 

 peduncles and pedicels. Corolla tubular, 5-lobed, lobes linear, minutely glandular 

 at apex. Anthers sagittate at base. Achenes ribbed, silky on the ribs. 



Habitat: NATAL: Inanda, 1800 feet alt, October, Wood, No. 1658; Mount 

 Edgecombe, 500 feet alt, Wood, in Colonial Herbarium, No. 3758 ; near Durban, 

 January, Wood. 



A rather common plant in coast and midland districts, flowering profusely in 

 the summer months, when its large trusses of flowers render it a conspicuous object 

 on the hillsides and open places where it is usually found ; it occurs occasionally 

 with whitish flowers. In the Flora Capensis the hairs are said to be curled, and to 

 some extent they are so, but they are very frequently forked as shown in the 

 figure. 



Fig. 1, involucral scale ; 2, floret; 3, two stamens; 4, forked hair from leaf; 

 all enlarged. 



