THE SOUTH AFRICAN GERBERAS. 



239 



he calls it Doronicum Ajricanum folio Asplenii. Subsequently 

 BuRMANN depicted it in his Rare African Plants (1738), and it is 

 alluded to by Petiver and the pre-Linnean writers, Plukenet, 

 Breyn, Seba, and others. 



Curiously all the figures of the species are in the continental litera- 

 ture, except Plukenet's, which is however flowerless and therefore 

 open to doubt. 



Gerbera ferruginea, De CandoUe Prod. vii. 15 (1838). 



Syn. Doronicum asplenifolium var. 13, Lamarck Diet. ii. 315 



(1786). 



Arnica serrata, Thunberg Prod. 154 (1800) ; Fl. Cap. 669 



(1823). 



Gerbera sinuata, Lessing in Linnaea, v. 292 (1830), non 

 Sprengel. 



Arnica Gerbera, Burmann ex De Candolle, I.e. non Linneus. 

 A. Gerbera var. a E. Meyer in Drege Zwei Pfl. Doc. 187 

 (1843) ; Harvey, I.e. 520. 



Leaves in tufts of three to twelve, ascending or spreading, borne on 

 slender ventrally grooved dorsally convex brownish petioles J-3 inches 

 long, which are invariably glabrous towards the upper end, and white 

 felted or cobwebby at their broadened sheathing base ; leaf-blade 

 oblong or narrowly oblong, broadly subacute at the apex, truncate 

 or obhquely truncate or wedge-shaped at the base, 1J-4 inches long, 

 J-i inch broad, leathery, dark lustrous green above with a sunken 

 midrib, closely white- or rusty-felted and dull below, the midrib 

 raised, the lateral nerves distant, eventually coalescing towards the 

 margin and forming a subintramarginal band ; margin subsinuate 

 and slightly revolute, distantly and shallowly acutely or obtusely 

 toothed, the teeth often pointing downwards. Scape soHtary, rarely 

 three, slender, 5-15 inches long, almost terete, velvety pubescent 

 above the middle, chestnut-brown and occasionally glabrescent to- 

 wards the base, the bracts as in G. asplenifolia, but shghtly larger 

 towards the base of the scape. Involucral bracts as in the latter 

 species, but fewer-seriate and slightly pubescent. Flower-head 1J-2 

 inches in diameter, the ray-florets snow-white within, purple with- 

 out, slightly narrower than in G. asplenifolia, 2-3-toothed apically, 

 disc-florets brownish. Pappus pale brownish. 



Distribution. Coast Region. Riversdale Div. : between Little Vet 

 River and Garcias Pass, Nov. 27, 1814, Burchell, 6908 ! Mossel Bay 

 Div. : Driefontein at Mossel Bay, below 500 feet, Aug. , Drege \ George 

 Div. : rocky hill near the west end of Lange Vallei, Aug. 18, 1814, 

 Burchell, 5701 ! Knysna Div. : near Knysna, June 29, 1814, Burchell, 

 5506 ! Uniondale Div. : near the Keurboom's River, Mantis Station 

 and Cloete's Kraal, March 25, 1814, Burchell, 5139 ! 



Var. linearis, Diimmer, comb, no v. 



Syn. Gerbera asplenifolia var. linearis, Harvey, I.e. 520. 



Leaves narrower than the type, linear, ij-sj inches long 



