PODOLÉPIS gracilis.
Branched Podolepis.
Natural Order. C oM P O S I T ® . Adansonfam. 2. 103.
Subordo I I I . C A R D U A C E M .— \ ) \ y . 6. Asterea;. Kth. syn. 2.
p. 399. . ,
P O D O L E P IS . Involucrum polyphyllum imbricatum hemisphae-
ricum: foliolis scariosis stipitatis. Receptaculum puactainm, nudum.
Flosculi disci tubulosi, hermaphroditi : radii ligulati feminei. An-
therw basi muticse. Pappus pilosus, sessilis.—Herbm, caule ramoso,
vel subsimplici; ramis foliisque alternis, floribus solitariis aut panicuiatis,
luteis aut lilacinis.
P qracilis, foliolis involucri rhombeo-ovatis acutis, caule paniculato-
ramoso, pedunculis apice squamosis, foliis glabris integerrimis basi
trinerviis : radicalibus oblongo-ovatis : caulinis lanceolatis amplexi-
caulibus acuminatis.
Podolepis gracilis. Graham in the Edinburgh Neto Philosophical
Journal fo r October, 1828. p .W .
AZemof a h a rd woody texture at the base, two to three
feet high, quite smooth and glossy, of a light brown colour,
paniculately branched, the branches slender,
smooth, producing a leaf a t each joint. Leaves smooth,
entire, three-nerved, rather succulent: lower ones oblongly
ovate, terminated in a short point: stem ones
sessile, and clasping the stem a t the base, where it is
th re e -L rv ed , attenuated to a narrow point, midrib a t
the back very strong, so as to appear like a keel, the upper
side channelled. Flowers of a bright lilac, in a loose
L re ad in g panicle. Peduncle rather thickened at the base
of the flower, clothed a little way down with stipitate
scariose white scales, similar to the leaflets of the involucrum.
Involucrum heiuisphserical, many-leaved, closely
imbricate: the leaflets stipitate, or on long slender glan-
dularly-pubescent green footstalks, glossy, w hitish, scariose
rhomboidally ovate, acute, upper ones narrower,
with broader footstalks, th a t are winged a little. Receptacle
naked, b u t punctate and roughish. Rays bright lilac
spreading, narrowly ligulate, two-lobed or notched
a t foe point, bearing a purple style and bifid stigma, and
producing a seed similar to the tubular florets. Florets
o f the disk tubular, 5-toothed, the nerves alternating
with the teeth. Stamens 5 : filaments smooth, d istin c t:
V O L . I I I . 2
!lil
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