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flowering branches woolly, leafless at the summit; leaves linear, mucronate, erecto-patent, tomentose beneath, glabrous or cobwebbed, and either scabrous or smooth above; outer inv. scales acute, reddish, villous or softly and densely hairy, shorter than the obtuse inner scales; recept. nude. Very similar in aspect to A. arborescens, but readily known by its silky-villous involucre. Var. β. is intermediate between true “ arborescens ,” of which it has the leaves, and true “ asperum ,” of which it has the involucres. The leaves in both vars. are more erect than in A. arborescens; the inv. scales less rufous. Zeyher's 2912 has the leaves copiously cobwebbed with loose, deciduous wool. The receptacle is nude and the achenes pubescent, but not wrapped in wool as they are in A. arborescens.