Gnaphalium.] XLIII. COMPOSITE. 231 



A large genus, generally spread over nearly the whole globe from the 

 tropics to the Arctic Circle. 



Perennial. Flower-heads in oblong or elongated leafy spikes. 



Achenes not flattened 2. O. sylvaticum. 



Dwarf perennial. Flower-heads terminal, solitary or very few. 



Achenes flattened . . 3. G. supinum. 



Annual or biennial. Flower-heads irregularly clustered in a 



terminal corymb. Achenes not flattened . . . . 1. G. luteo- album. 

 Annual. Flower-heads small and clustered within a tuft of 



leaves longer than the heads 4. G. uliginosum. 



The other species included in Gnaphalium in the earliest editions will 

 now be found under Filago and Antennaria. Most of the composite 

 Everlastings of our gardens belong to the allied genus Uelichrysum, of 

 which no species are British. 



1. Gr. luteo- album, Linn. (fig. 508). Jersey O. — An annual or biennial, 

 scarcely a foot high, the stems erect or ascending and all covered with 

 soft white cotton. Leaves narrow. Flower-heads 2 to 3 lines in 

 diameter, irregularly clustered in a dense corymb. Involucral scales 

 scarious at the top, of a pale brown, yellow, or dirty white colour, but 

 not spreading. Florets very numerous, mostly female and filiform, 

 with a few tubular male or complete ones in the centre. 



In sandy fields, pastures, and waste places, dispersed nearly all over 

 the temperate and warmer regions of the globe, extending in Europe 

 to the Baltic, but not beyond. In the British Isles, appearing now and 

 then in the eastern counties and Channel Islands. FL summer and 

 autumn, 



2. Gk sylvaticum, Linn. (fig. 509). Wood O. — Stock perennial, 

 tufted or shortly creeping, with long-stalked lanceolate leaves. Flower- 

 ing stems nearly simple, erect, from 2 to 6 or 8 inches high, with linear 

 leaves, usually cottony on the under side only, but sometimes on both 

 sides. Flower-heads small, cylindrical, or ovoid, either solitary or in 

 little clusters in the axils of the upper leaves, forming a long, leafy 

 spike. Involucres scarcely cottony, with brown, shining bracts ; the 

 outer filiform florets more numerous than the inner tubular ones. 

 Achenes slender, nearly cylindrical. 



In open woods, heaths, and pastures, in northern and central Europe 

 and Kussian Asia, and all round the Arctic Circle ; becoming a moun- 

 tain plant in the south, and scarcely reaching the Mediterranean. 

 Extends over the whole of Britain. Fl. summer and autumn. A high 

 alpine or Arctic variety, with the leaves cottony on both sides, and the 

 flower-heads darker coloured, in a short terminal spike, has been dis- 

 tinguished as G. norvegicum, Gunner., and has been found in Perth, 

 Forfar, and Aberdeen. 



3. Gr. supinum, Linn. (fig. 510). Dwarf O. — A small, tufted peren- 

 nial, with narrow leaves, sometimes resembling dwarf specimens of G. 

 sylvaticum, but the stem seldom 2 inches high, bearing only very few 

 flower-heads in a terminal cluster, or only a single one ; and sometimes 

 the flower-heads are almost sessile in the centre of the radical leaves. 

 Involucres brown, like those of G. sylvaticum, but the filiform florets 

 are much fewer, and the achenes broader and evidently flattened. 



An Arctic and high alpine plant, extending over the mountain ranges 

 of Europe and western Asia to the Arctic Circle. Not uncommon in 

 the Scotch Highlands, absent from England and Ireland. Fl. summer. 



