Metalasia divergens D.Don

Decumbent shrublet, sprawling or sometimes erect, mostly slender, sparingly to much-branched, sometimes climbing on other plants, up to 0.7 m high, but often not exceeding 0.5 m. Branches often ascending, rarely erect or prostrate, young usually densely whitish-tomentose, often with glands, older becoming glabrous or nearly so, sometimes with indistinct leaf-scars. Foliage dense to very dense. Leaves often declinate or sometimes spreading, straight or often curved, mostly with axillary brachyblasts less than half as long as the subtending leaf, flat to slightly concave, usually involute to much involute, narrowly lanceolate to narrowly ovate or sometimes narrowly obovate, rarely acicular, 2.3-13 x (0.3-)0.5-1.5 mm, acute to shortly acuminate, mostly half-twisted, often sparsely tomentose at least towards the base, sometimes with glands, sometimes with a midvein at least towards the base. Synflorescenses 4-15(-25) mm wide, very dense, slightly to obscurely branched, with often less than 30 (numerous) capitula arranged in (1)few to 5(-15) dense and almost unbranched and scarcely distinguishable clusters, each containing (1-)few to 7(-15) capitula; a few individually arranged capitula sometimes also present. Peduncles 0-10 mm long. Capitula 5-flowered, sessile, completely fused by hairs within clusters and synflorescenses, lower 1/2-2/3 of each capitulum hairy. Involucre cyathiform to narrowly campanulate, apically 2.5-4 mm wide, sometimes up to 5 mm wide at anthesis. Involucral bracts in 4-5 series, of about equal length, rarely just slightly longer inwards, tips reaching a similar height, all petaloid, outermost with an involute ericoid and leaf-like stereome and narrowly lanceolate to sub-spathulate, those inwards oblanceolate to narrowly oblanceolate, all except outermost with usually broad hyaline margins, outermost acute to acuminate, those inwards acute and sometimes slightly apiculate to rounded to truncate, outermost apically erect, those inwards erect-spreading to erect, inner and innermost sometimes plicate, outermost with interlocking hairs and mostly also with glands, those inwards less hairy and less glandular to glabrous, outermost brown or often dark brown or rarely reddish, those inwards sometimes reddish above the stereome but otherwise white or rarely pink, innermost with a stereome about 1.3-1.8 times as long as the lamina. Corolla narrowly cylindrical, 3.1-4.3 mm long, rarely with a rigid resiniferous base; lobes erect. Anthers apically rounded. Cypselas oblong to elliptic-oblong to narrowly oblong, 1.8-2.7 mm long, with a mostly conspicuous annular ridge, brown. Pappus bristles with a serrate and narrow shaft, apically clavate or sometimes ± flattened and subentire, usually obtuse.