Metalasia dregeana Dc.

Erect shrub, often robust, sparingly to much-branched, up to 2.5 m high, often exceeding 1.5 m. Branches erect, young very densely whitish-tomentose, older becoming less tomentose to glabrous, usually with distinct leaf-scars. Foliage dense or sometimes sparse. Leaves declinate to spreading, straight, with axillary brachyblasts less than half as long as the subtending leaf, involute to much involute, linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, or sometimes narrowly elliptic or oblanceolate, 3.0-14 x 0.5-1.3 mm, acute, sometimes carinate, rarely shortly acuminate, pungent, mostly about half-twisted, glabrous, without or with an indistinct midvein, Synflorescenses (10-)15-75 mm wide, dense, conspicuously branched, with often numerous capitula arranged in 5-17 obscurely to distinctly branched clusters, each containing (few-)5 to numerous capitula. Peduncles (0-)2-20 mm long. Capitula 3-flowered, free, sessile, lower 1/2-3/5 of each capitulum hairy. Involucre cyathiform, apically 1.5-2.5 mm wide, generally becoming narrowly campanulate and up to 3 mm wide at anthesis. Involucral bracts in 6-9 series, gradually longer inwards, outermost about 1/3-1/2 as long as the innermost, about half amount of the bracts or less petaloid, outermost subfoliaceous to scarious, those inwards more scarious to petaloid, outermost lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, those inwards narrowly oblanceolate to oblanceolate, inner and innermost usually with narrow hyaline margins and often conspicuously transparent above the stereome, all acute to very acute and often slightly acuminate, outermost apically erect-spreading to erect, those inwards spreading but innermost erect and sometimes slightly plicate, outermost with interlocking hairs not reaching above the middle of the bract, those inwards less hairy to glabrous, outermost light brown, those inwards whitish or often creamy white or sometimes white, innermost with a stereome about 0.8-1.4 times as long as the lamina. Corolla narrowly cylindrical, 3.8-4.4 mm long, sometimes with a rigid resiniferous base; lobes erect. Anthers apically rounded. Cypselas narrowly oblong to oblong-ovoid, 1.3-1.8 mm long, without an annular ridge, with short acute papillae, brown. Pappus bristles with a slightly serrate or sometimes dentate and very narrow to narrow shaft, apically flattened to ± flat and serrate to entire, thickened towards the very apex, very acute or sometimes acute.