Metalasia pungens D.Don

Erect shrublet or shrub, sometimes robust and rigid, sparingly to much-branched, up to 2.5 m high. Branches erect, young whitish sometimes densely whitish-tomentose, older becoming less tomentose to glabrous, without or with distinct leaf-scars. Foliage sparse to dense. Leaves usually erect-spreading to erect, straight to ± strongly incurvate, or rarely curved inwards with reflexive tips, without or with axillary brachyblasts often more than half as long as the subtending leaf, flat to deeply concave above, involute or rarely much involute, narrowly lanceolate to narrowly ovate, or sometimes linear, narrowly obovate, or narrowly elliptic, (1.8-)2.7-18 x 0.7-2.4 mm, usually acuminate, mostly non-twisted, glabrous or sometimes slightly pubescent at least towards the base, rarely densely greyish-tomentose, with a distinct midvein. Synflorescenses 5-15 mm wide, dense to very dense, obscurely to conspicuously branched, with often numerous capitula arranged in (few-)5-20 obscurely to distinctly branched clusters, each containing (few-)5-30 sometimes numerous capitula. Peduncles 2-13 mm long. Capitula 3(-4)-flowered, sessile or sometimes with pedicels up to 3 mm long, free from one another, in dense synflorescenses slightly fused by hairs, often less than lower half of each capitulum hairy. Involucre narrowly cyathiform to narrowly campanulate, rarely narrowly obconic, apically 1.5-2.5 mm wide, sometimes up to 4 mm wide at anthesis. Involucral bracts in 5-7 series, gradually longer inwards, outermost about (1/3-)l/2-4/5 as long as the innermost, most bracts not petaloid, outermost scarious, those inwards scarious to petaloid, outermost linear to subulate-lanceolate, those inwards lanceolate to narrowly oblanceolate, inner and innermost sometimes with narrow rarely broad hyaline margins and rarely transparent above the stereome, outermost to inner very acute to acuminate, innermost often rounded and slightly apiculate or sometimes truncate and irregularly dentate, outermost apically often erect-spreading, those inwards usually erect and sometimes plicate, outermost with usually comparatively few interlocking hairs not reaching above the middle of the bract, those inwards less hairy to glabrous, outermost light to dark brown or rarely whitish, those inwards reddish-brown or rarely whitish, to white or sometimes pink, innermost with a stereome about 1-1.5(-2) times as long as the lamina. Corolla narrowly cylindrical, 3.3-4.5 mm long; lobes spreading to erect-spreading, sometimes erect. Anthers apically rounded. Cypselas oblong-elliptic to narrowly oblong-elliptic or sometimes narrowly oblong-ovoid, 1.3-2.0 mm long, without an annular ridge, with obtuse papillae, brown, rarely dark brown. Pappus bristles with a serrate to slightly serrate, rarely dentate and narrow shaft, apically subterete to ± flat and slightly serrate to slightly dentate or entire, obtuse or sometimes acute.