 Aucust 1, 1903. 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
WV I take a description.of this native plant, 
so abundantly plentiful around the coast 
of New South Wales from Mr. J. H. Maiden’s 
most excellent and beautiful work, “The 
Flowering Plants and Ferns of New South 
Wales.” This work we commend to every 
student of botany, and all who are interested 
in the botany of Australia, indeed, to every 
lover of beautiful flowers, because the letter- 
press 1s profusely illustrated with most beauti- 
ful and correctly coloured plates. 
Vernacular Names.—We only know one 
truly local name for this plant, and that is 
the “Flannel Flower’—a rather: unpoetical 
designation, but a really descriptive one, and 
one universally accepted. It is, of course, in 
allusion to the involucre, which looks as if it 
-- The + Flannel 
(Aetinotus Helianthi, Labill.) 
were snipped out of white flannel. It is also 
known to a few by the name of Australian 
Edelweiss. ‘The true Edelweiss is found on 
the Alps of Europe, and its botanical name 
is Leontopodium alpinum. »It belongs to the 
Daisy family (Compositae), to which our 
flannel flower does of belong, as we shall 
presently see. 
Botanical Name.—It was called Actinotus 
Felianthi by Labillardiére, the celebrated 
French botanist, who visited the eastern and 
southern coasts of Australia (including what 
is now known as Tasmania) during the latter 
part of the last century. The generic name 
Actinolus is from the Greek actinotos, radiated, 
in reference to the rayed appearance of the 
involucre, 7¢, what people often call 
+ Flower. -+- 
“petals” in speaking of the flannel flower, 
but whether correctly or not will be evident 
later on, ‘The word is akin to a Greek word 
which signifies the rays of the sun. The 
specific name /elianthi is from helianthus, the 
botanical name for the sunflower, which word 
_is again derived from the Greek helianthes, a 
sunflower. The name, therefore, is in allu- 
sion to the general resemblance of the flannel 
flower to the sunflower. 
Botanical Description.—Erect, perennial, 
1 to 2 feet high, covered with a soft dense 
almost floccose or woolly tomentum, rarely 
wearing off from the upper sides of the leaves. 
Flowers.—There is a little catch in regard 
to the botany of the flannel flower. Does it 
not belong to the daisy family (Compositae) ? 
