Blumea lanceolaria (Roxb.) Druce, Rep. Bot. Exch. Club Brit. Isles 4: 609. 1917. Conyza lanceolaria Roxb., Fl. Ind. 3: 432. 1832; B. myriocephala DC., Prodr. 5: 445. 1836; Hook.f. Fl. Brit. India 3: 269. 1881.

Undershrubs or shrubs; stems tall, hollow, branched above; branches stout, glabrous or puberulous. Leaves oblanceolate, or narrowly oblong-lanceolate, shortly acuminate, minutely serrate dentate, 5-35 x 0.8-8 cm, recurved, upper surface rugose, glabrous, the lower surface glabrous or puberulous, many nerved, narrowed into an appendaged petiole. Heads clustered on large terminal, pyramidal panicles, 0.6-1.1 cm in diam., pedunculate subsessile. Involucral bracts green to purplish, longer than florets, recurved and spreading, 1-9 mm long; the outer ones ovate-lanceolate, the inner narrowly lanceolate with scarious margins, all pubescent on the back, with ciliate margins and apices. Receptacle flat, alveolate, 2-3 mm in diam., pilose, rarely glabrclte. Corolla of bisexual florets tubular, 5-6 mm long, 5-lobed; lobes acute, papillate, pubescent with colleters, of female florets filiform, 5-6 mm long, 2-3 lobed, glabrous. Achenes straw-coloured, oblong, ribbed, pubescent. Pappus yellowish white, up to 5 mm long.

Fl. & Fr. Feb.- April.

Notes. Extremely variable species with two clearly distinguished varieties.

KEY TO THE VARIETIES

1a. Heads 6-8 mm across, subsessile; leaves broadly oblanceolate, minutely serrate

16.1. lanceolaria

b. Heads 9-11 mm across; distinctly pedunculate; leaves narrowly oblong-lanceolate, coarsely serrate

16.2. spectabilis

List of Lower Taxa