erect, suffruticose, laxly branched; branches virgate, incurved, leafy throughout; leaves half-clasping, subulate, rigid, glossy, acute or obtuse, keeled, the lowest long and filiform, spreading, the rest short, close-pressed, those under the heads scaly membranous; invol. campanulate or subturbinate, all the scales lance-acuminate, except the outermost shortly stipitate or subsessile, lustrous; fimbrils longer than the ovaries; achenes mostly granulate; pappus barbellate. Stems 1–2 feet high, slender. Lower leaves loosely set, 1–2 inches long, flexuous; upper 2–3 lines long, closely applied to the stem. Invol. lustrous, satiny, variable in colour, white, rosy, pale-lemon, or mottled. Heads 1–1 1/2 inch across, very handsome. The above four vars. are precisely similar in all respects, except in the trivial differences assigned to each: and these I find variable. The fimbrils are not to be depended on; all breadths may be found, if a sufficient number of heads be examined. I have no hesitation therefore in restoring the old Linnæan species in place of the four into which it has been split.
