Eriocephalus scariosus Dc.

Slender, erect, much-branched, almost evergreen, strongly aromatic shrubs, 0.5-1.5 m high, 1-2 m in diameter. Old stems dark brown, deeply grooved; older branches yellow-brown, fairly smooth to slightly grooved, thin, glabrous; dolichoblasts green-yellow, cylindrical, smooth, sparsely to densely sericeous with sessile glands; brachyblasts short-lived, at most 2 mm long. Leaves alternate, sparse on dolichoblasts, dense on brachyblasts, densely sericeous to glabrous, leaves of dolichoblasts and brachyblasts of the same size and length, linear-lanceolate, 4-12 x 0.5-1.5 mm, entire, semisucculent, silvery white to green-grey to bright green, basally adaxially concave, abaxially convex, with glands in cavities on leaves. Capitula heterogamous radiate, solitary on brachyblasts or racemose, terminal on flowering shoots, 4-6 x 3-6 mm; peduncles slender, 6-12 mm long, sericeous. Involucral bracts 4 or 5, oval, 4 x 3 mm, with a green central strip surrounded by a broad membranous margin. Paleae: those of marginal florets connate, 4 mm long, sometimes only partially connate, fringed margins of connate paleae intertwined, abaxially densely long-lanate, hairs septate; those of disc florets narrowly linear, 4.0 x 0.5 mm, membranous, margins fringed. Ray florets (1)2(3), 4 mm long, female; corolla white, tubular, lamina strap-shaped to narrowly cuneate, 3-lobed or 3-dentate, up to 6 x 2 mm, much longer than flattened style branches. Ovary (and cypsela) oblong, flattened. Seed obovoid, flattened, 2.5 mm long. Disc florets 4-9,4-5 mm long, functionally male, with sterile ovary; corolla tubular, 5-lobed, glandular abaxially. Style cylindrical, apex globose, with sweeping hairs. Stamens 5, distinctly exserted at maturity. Receptacle after anthesis with dense, white, long-pilose indumentum between involucral bracts and connate marginal paleae. Flowering time: correlated with rainfall, varying from December to April and June to September.