Plate 69. 



GAZANIA Pavonia. 



Cttpe Province. 



Compositae. Tribe Abctotideae. 

 Gazania, Gamin.; Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. Plant, vol. ii. p. 459. 



Gazania Pavonia, R. Br. in Ait. ffort. Kew. 2, vol. v. p. 140 ■ 

 Fl. Cap. vol. iii. p. 476. 



This extremely handsome species of Gazania was cultivated 

 hy Mr. C. N. Knox-Davies in Johannesburg from plants 

 collected at Worcester in the Cape Province. The plants 

 form a dense mass, and are suitable either for growing in a 

 border or in large pots. The ray florets are a beautiful nopal 

 red, with a warm sepia-brown eye-spot at the base, and when 

 the plants are in full bloom they present a very striking 

 appearance. It is surprising that species of this genus, which 

 are amongst the most handsome of the South African 

 Compositae, have received so little attention from horti- 

 culturists, and though hundreds of our native plants have 

 been figured in the Botanical Magazine only two species of 

 Gazania have been illustrated. 



Mr. N. E. Brown, who contributed an account of the genus 

 to The Garden, wrote that "it is one of the most per- 

 plexing that a botanist has to deal with," and even to-day the 

 species are very imperfectly known. Our plant was sub- 

 mitted to Kew for verification of the name, and the Director 

 reports, " The Gazania has not been exactly matched, but 

 might be regarded as a form of G. Pavonia, R. Br." 



Specimens are preserved in the National Herbarium, 

 Pretoria (Herb. No. 1473). 



Description : — Plant compact, decumbent, forming a 

 clump about 30 cm. in diamater. Leaves crowded near the 

 apex of short shoots, 6-10 cm. long, pinnatisect, slightly 

 broadened and clasping at the base ; lobes 1-2*5 cm. long, 

 2*5-4 mm. broad, linear, subacute, woolly-tomentose beneath 



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