Description :

• Rigid, erect shrubs, main stem to 60 mm in diameter; branches rigid, upright, covered in brachyblasts borne at right angles to branches, decreasing in size from base of branch to tip, each brachyblast subtended by a narrow dark brown bract
• Leaves small, fleshy, knob-like, very densely spaced on branches and brachyblasts, imbricate, abaxial surface woolly-hairy, adaxial surface arachnoid
• Capitula discoid, terminal, large, with 800-1000 florets
• Involucral bracts 240-270, with three clearly distinguishable sections: basal shaft 6-11 mm long, narrowly transversely elliptic in cross section, strongly hygroscopic, margins with a single row of hairs and glands; hinge a dark brown band, up to 2 mm wide between shaft and lamina; lamina up to 22 mm long, with a silky sheen, deep pink fading to lighter shades with age; outermost bracts scale-like, with acuminate dark brown tips; innermost bracts with lamina longer and narrower
• Receptacle conical, nude, honeycombed
• Female florets discoid, ± 20 per capitulum, positioned at regular intervals between other florets in outermost row closest to involucre, narrowing towards tip to clasp style, with very small, erect, triangular lobes
• Style bifid; style branches tapering to a narrow, rounded tip, base bulbous
• Cypsela with long, white, silky hairs
• Pappus of 100-150 plumose bristles, slightly fused at base, tips acute or rounded
• Male florets discoid, majority of florets in capitula, progressively younger towards centre, ± same width from base to tip
• Anthers with apical appendage truncate, basally long frilly-tailed
• Style not bifid, with swollen cells along upper part of shaft, base bulbous
• Nectary reduced or 0
• Cypsela reduced and sterile, smooth, glossy
• Pappus bristles 20-55, plumose, slightly fused at base, tips bulbously inflated

Nomenclature:

• Phaenocoma D.Don
  • Don: 554 (1826)
  • Harvey: 287 (1865)
  • Anonymous: 388 (1930)
  • Anderberg: 70 (1991)
  • Anderberg: 333 (1994)
• Elichrysum Willd.
  • Willdenow: 1905 (1803).
• Xeranthemum L.
  • Linnaeus: 858 (1753)

Distribution & Notes:

• Southern Africa : Monotypic: Phaenocoma prolifera (L.) D.Don, endemic to Western Cape