ui 
i} * 
°- al 
Now first introduced by Messrs. Colvill, of the Chelsea 
Nursery, with whom it flowered in the greenhouse this 
summer. : 
“e 
“ The species appears to be annual, but on this head 
“we have no information. We are only informed of its 
“ srowing near Port Jackson on a sandy soil, and blossom- 
“ ing in October.” 
“The root is branching and woody. Stem solitary, 
“about two feet high, erect, leafy, round, woolly, but 
“ little branched except at the upper part, where the flower- 
“stalks, more or less numerous, grow in a corymbose form. 
“ Leaves alternate, stalked, 3-cleft, lobed and pinnatifid ; 
“ their segments spreading, linear, entire, flat, a little di- 
“ Jated upwards, and bluntish; clothed with dense wool, 
*‘ whiter beneath. Stipulas none. Flowers terminal, large 
“and showy, all over white with a green or rufous tinge. 
_© Involucrum coloured, spreading, much longer than the 
“umbel, consisting of 8 or 10 lanceolate, acute, entire 
“ Jeaves, peculiarly soft and pliable, clothed on both sides © 
‘“< with a dense velvetlike pubescence. Flowers very nume- 
H “yous, forming a compact, hemispherical, hairy umbel, 
i “ those of the circumference abortive, having no germen, 
| “ Calyx a little elevated, of 5 large, equal, ovate (linear- 
| “ oblong), concave, whitish (green) leaves, hairy exter- 
| “nally, and having the aspect of petals. Of real petals 
‘“ we have found none. Stamens in all the flowers, 5 in 
“number, equal, awlshaped, white, with yellow roundish 
“anthers projecting a little beyond the calyx. Styles 
“‘ (stigmas) 2, capillary, longer than the stamens. Stig- 
«mas simple. Germen obovate, compressed, densely cloth- 
“ ed with long white silky hairs. The wool and hairs under 
“‘ the microscope appear to be compound, and more or less 
I “ whorled. Ripe seeds we have not seen. No aromatic or 
i “ pungent flavour is perceptible in any part.” Smith exot. 
i bot. 2. 37. 
| “The genus bears the most striking analogy to the 
«* Kuropean Astrantia, from which it differs in its woolly, 
“not smooth, involucrum, but more essentially in haying 
} “no petals, and in its hairy, not muricated, fruit.” Smith 
H in Rees's cyclop. sub Eer1ocauta. | 
