Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/317

Brachycome.] 5. B. Thomsoni, ''T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst.'' xvi. (1884) 372, t. 27.—Rhizome stout, creeping, branched. Stems 3–12 in. long, stout, branched from the base, decumbent or ascending, densely glandular-pubescent, as are the leaves, scapes, and involucres. Leaves numerous, radical and cauline, 1–2 in. long, oblong- or obovate-spathulate, obtuse, narrowed into a very broad flat petiole, coarsely bluntly toothed or lobed or almost pinnatifid. Peduncles terminating the branches, 3–6 in. long or more, stout, somewhat rigid, naked or with a solitary linear bract. Heads about ½ in. diam.; involucral bracts oblong or oblong-ovate, obtuse, with purple tips. Ray-florets usually numerous, but sometimes wanting in reduced states; rays white, spreading. Achenes linear-clavate, densely glandular-pubescent; margins thickened. Pappus of minute bristly scales.—Students' Fl. 260.

Shrubs or trees. Leaves alternate, rarely opposite or fascicled, usually with white or buff tomentum beneath. Heads large or small, solitary or corymbose or paniculate, radiate or rarely discoid. Involucre broad or narrow; bracts imbricated in several rows, margins dry or scarious. Receptacle flat or convex, pitted. Florets few or many, rarely solitary; ray-florets female, in a single row, usually ligulate, spreading, rarely slender and filiform or altogether wanting; disc-florets hermaphrodite, tubular, 5-lobed. Anthers often acute at the base or with minute tails, rarely obtuse. Style-branches flattened, with short obtuse or rarely lanceolate appendages. Pappus of one or more rows of unequal scabrid bristles, often thickened at the tips. Achenes ribbed or striate, terete or slightly compressed.