PLATE 335. 
VERNONIA HIRSUTA, Sch. Bip. (FI. Cap. Vol. III, p. 51.) 
Natural Order, Compositm. 
An herbaceous, erect plant, bearing purple flowers. Stem erect, simple or 
branched, striate, densely clothed with soft whitish curled hairs. Leaves sessile, 
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; 14 to 34 inches long, # to 14 inch wide. Inflores- 
cence corymbose, many headed, usually flat topped, peduncles reaching to 14 to 2 
inches long, pedicels + to # 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: Natau: 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. 
