Volume 4 — PLATE CCLXXIX. XERANTHEMUM FASCICULATUM. Var. flore albo.

Bundle-leaved Everlasting-flower.

White Var.

CLASS XIX. ORDER II.

SYNGENESIA POLYGAMIA SUPERFLUA. Tips united. Superfluous Pointals.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

Receptaculum paleaceum. Pappus setaceus. Calyx imbricatus, radiatus; radio colorato.

Receptacle chaffy. Feather bristly. Cup-tiled, with a ray; the ray coloured.

See Xeranthemum speciosissimum, Pl. LI. Vol. I.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Xeranthemum foliis caulinis linearibus, sub-teretibus, fasciculatis, longissimis; floribus solitariis; squamis calycis lanceolatis, albis.

Everlasting-flower with the stem-leaves linear, roundish, bundled, very long; flowers solitary; scales of the cup lance-shaped and white.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. An Hermaphrodite Floret, with its seed, magnified.

2. A Female Floret, with its seed, magnified.

3. The Pointal from a Female Floret, magnified.

As a fine variety of the Bundle-leaved Everlasting flower, figured in this work, Pl. 242 of this Vol.; we now present this plant to our friends. Tis true, it may be thought by some, at first sight, there is too considerable a degree of similitude in the plants to deserve a particular plate for each; but, upon a nigh investigation, it will be found there exists a stronger marked difference, in the growth of the plants, than, at first, meets the eye; not certainly enough to constitute a specific difference, but undoubtedly a strong variety. The flower stems, in this, grow more straddling; and the long stem-leaves are more dispersed on the upper part of the plant; at the base they nearly resemble each other. We have our figure from the Clapham Collection, to which the plants were introduced at the same time, and through the same channel as the above cited species; seeds of both having been sent from the Cape of Good Hope, by Mr. Niven, in the year 1799. For all that relates to the management of this, we most refer our readers to the figure just alluded to; as its habits, time of flowering, &c. in nothing differ.