shrubby, mostly unarmed, much-branched, erect or diffuse; leaves petioled, obovate or obovato-lanceolate, acute or obtuse, coarsely toothed or subentire, coriaceous, nerved, the young cobwebbed or cottony, the adult glabrous and glossy; pedunc. corymbose or solitary, scaly, short; inv. glabrous or woolly, its outer scales narrow, inner varying from ovate to lanceolate; achenes obovate-globose, drupaceous, glabrous and smooth. A large bush, 2–4 ft. high, much branched, very variable in the shape of its leaves and in the cobwebby or woolly hairs that more or less persistently clothe the young parts. Leaves 1 1/2–2 1/2 in. long, 1/2–1 1/2 in. wide, rarely quite entire, the old ones almost always glossy. Pedunc. 1–2 inches long, axillary and terminal, often several at the ends of the branches. Rays bright yellow. “The ashes contain much alkali, and are sometimes used in the manufacture of soap; the colonial name is Bush-tick Berry, and the berries are eaten by birds and Hottentot children.” Mrs. Barber, 479.—I find the inv. scales so variable, in specimens from the same locality, that I cannot employ them to separate O. pisiferum from moniliferum of authors. A fragment from Drege (Hb. Sd.) marked “ O. spinescens ” is referable to our var. δ. of which Jacq. Schoenbr. t. 377, quoted by DC., is an excellent figure. O. rotundatum, DC. is only a var. with larger, broader and blunter leaves than usual.
