PLATE 365. 



DKNBKIA OAPENSIS, Thb, (PI. Cap. Vol. 3, p. 119). 

 Natural Order, COMPOSITE. 



Root perennial. Stems several, erect or ascending, 10 to 18 inches long,. 

 branching: near apex, thinly woolly. Leaves, radical and lower ones linear-oblong, 

 acute at apex, gradually tapering to a deeply channelled petiole, the lamina decur- 

 rent as a very narrow wing almost to base of the petiole ; margin finely and 

 distantly toothed in the upper portion, midrib broad and thick ; the whole leaf 

 subglabrous ahove, densely white woolly beneath; 4 to 10 inches long, ^ to 1^ 

 wide in the widest part ; cauline leaves amplexicaul, lowest linear-oblong, upper 

 ones becoming shorter, broader and subauricled at base, the uppermost scarcely ^ 

 inch long, undulate at margins, the marginal teeth closer and longer than in the 

 lower and radical leaves, like them white woolly beneath, but more pubescent on 

 upper surface. Heads cymosely clustered at enHs of the branches ; flowers white. 

 Receptacle naked, flat. Involucre campanulate, the scales in 2 rows, those of the 

 outer row oblong, glandular-pubescent, of the inner row more membranous, 

 glabrous on the surface, ciliate especially towards the apex ; marginal florets in 

 several rows, female, minutely glandular, their corollas bilabiate, the lobes ovate, 

 equal , pappus none ; disk florets hermaphrodite (but sterile) funnel-shaped 5-fid, 

 teeth acute ; glandular ; pappus of a single scale which is palmato-fimbriate at 

 apex. Styles of disk-florets bifid, the branches flattened, acute ; of ray florets 

 more slender, the branches terete. Achenes pubescent. 



Habitat : NATAL : Drege, Bowker, Sanderson, Gerrard and McKen, 268, 

 Zeyher, 901, 902. Inanda 1800 feet alt, in moist places, Wood, 664 ; Clairmont, 

 20 feet alt, in similar soil, Wood, 1 253. 



Drawn and described from specimens gathered near Durban, July, 1904. 



This genus contains 2 species only, both of which are confined to South 

 Africa ; they are found in damp soil, and the above described species is common in 

 such places all over the Colony ; it is an insignificant plant, and is not applied to 

 any useful purpose. The pappus of the disk florets consisting of a single multifid 

 scale to each is worthy of notice. In the Flora Capensis it is stated that the 

 pappus consists of this scale, " and of a few small simple scales," but these in the 

 specimens examined we are unable to find. The other species, D. ghibrntu, DC., 

 is similar to the one here described, except that it is glabrous, not pubescent, and 

 is most likely a mere variety. 



Fig. 1, outer involucral scale; 2, inner involucral scale; 3, ray floret ; 4, 

 disk floret ; 5, style and stigma of ray floret ; 6, same of disk floret ; 7, three 

 stamens ; all enlarged. 



