Metalasia strictifolia Bolus

Compact and much-branched shrublet, up to 0.5 m high. Branches erect, young densely whitish tomentose and also with many coarse hairs, older becoming less tomentose, tomentum persistent for 5-7 seasons, with-out or with indistinct leaf-scars. Foliage dense, persistent for usually 5-6 seasons. Leaves mostly erect to appressed, straight and slightly curved towards the base, flowering shoots without axillary brachyblasts, older and other than flowering branches sometimes with axillary brachyblasts often about half as long as the subtending leaf, much to highly involute but less in-volute towards the base, narrowly triangular to narrowly lanceolate but then widened towards the base, rarely oblanceolate, 3.0-9.0 x 0.7-1.7 mm, acute to shortly acuminate, slightly carinate, with slightly hooked tips, non-twisted or sometimes slightly twisted or half-twisted, covered with coarse hairs at least to-wards the base, to almost glabrous, with a ± distinct midvein at least towards the base. Synflorescenses 5-20 mm wide, dense, with (1-)few to 15 individually arranged capitula. Capitula 5-flowered, with pedicels 0-1.5 mm long, free from one another or slightly fused by coarse hairs, lower 1/2-2/3 of each capitulum hairy. Involucre narrowly campanulate to campanulate, or sometimes narrowly oblong-urceolate, apically 2.5-5 mm wide. Involucral bracts in 4-6 series, gradually longer inwards, outermost about 1/2-3/4 as long as the innermost, most bracts not petaloid, outermost scarious, those inwards scarious to petaloid, outermost narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, those inwards oblanceolate to narrowly oblanceolate, innermost sometimes with narrow hyaline margins basally, outermost acute, those inwards acuminate to rounded to truncate, outermost apically erect-spreading to erect, but innermost erect-spreading and often slightly plicate and serrulate to denticulate and sometimes slightly concave, outer-most with interlocking and also with coarse hairs reaching almost throughout the bract, those inwards less hairy to glabrous, outermost brownish, those inwards gradually more white, innermost with a stereome about 0.7-1.2 times as long as the lamina. Corolla narrowly cylindrical, slightly widened above, or slightly con-stricted at the middle, 3.3-3.7 mm long; lobes spreading to erect-spreading. Anthers apically rounded. Cypselas narrowly oblong to narrowly oblong-elliptic, 1.6-2.0 mm long, with a conspicuous annular ridge, with two lateral and one medial, mostly inconspicuous pericarpous ribs, brown. Pappus bristles with a very narrow to narrow and serrate shaft, apically flattened and obtusely serrate, clavate at the very apex, obtuse, and with conspicuous, fused clavate cells.