Othonna
(the old Greek name used by Dioscorides; from othone, linen; referring to the soft, downy clothing of the leaves). Ragwort. Including Doria. SYN. Aristotela. ORD. Compositae. A large genus (about eighty species) of greenhouse or nearly hardy, glabrous shrubs, sub-shrubs, or herbs, confined to South Africa. Flower-heads yellow or rarely bluish, mediocre or small, pedunculate, corymbosely paniculate or solitary at the tips of the branches; involucre campanulate or hemispherical; receptacle flat or convex, naked or foveolate. Leaves alternate or radical, entire, toothed, or dissected, often some-what fleshy. Othonnas are of the easiest cultivation; they require a thoroughly well-drained, porous soil--provided the drainage is perfect, the nature of the soil is almost immaterial. They are readily propagated by cuttings. The species here described are those best known to cultivation. O. amplexicaulis (stem-clasping). fl. heads solitary. May and June. l. amplexicaul, oblong, entire or denticulate. Stem shrubby. Root tuberous. (B. M. 1312.) O. carnosa (fleshy-leaved). fl.-heads yellow, in a few-headed sub-corymbose panicle; pedicels very long. l. linear-terete, fleshy, acute, tapering at base. h. 9in. 1867. Sub-shrub.
O. cheirifolia (Wallflower-leaved). A synonym of Othonnopsis cheirifolia. O. crassifolia (thick-leaved).* fl.-heads few, terminal, sub-corymbose; pedicels very long, and slender. A very pretty trailer, and suitable for growing in a basket.
O. denticulata (toothed). fl.-heads disposed in terminal panicles. April to July. l. oblong, denticulated, glabrous, attenuated at base, amplexicaul. h. 2ft. 1774. Shrub. (B. M. 1979.) O. frutescens (shrubby). fl.-heads large, in terminal, many-flowered panicles; ray of about eight florets. Late summer. l. alternate, obovate, acute, thick, and fleshy. Stem erect, 2ft. to 3ft. high, suffruticose, but succulent. (B. M. 3967.) O. pectinata (comb-leaved).* fl.-heads solitary, twice or thrice as long as the leaves. May and June. l. pinnatifid, Wormwood-like, hoary; segments linear, parallel. h. 2ft. to 3ft. 1731. An interesting, shrubby plant, readily known by its copious, soft, whitish pubescence. The correct name of this is Euryops pectinatus. (B. M. 306.) O. pinnata (pinnate). fl.-heads, ray florets neatly rolled back at night, expanding in the morning. May. l. glaucous, obovate, very obtuse, some quite entire, others pinnatifid, with entire, decurrent leaflets. Stem herbaceous. Root tuberous. h. 3ft. 1759. (B. M. 768.) O. triplinerva (three-nerved). fl.-heads few or several, loosely corymbose; pedicels very long; involucral scales and rays about five. l. crowded towards the apices, obovate, obtuse, tapering at base into a slender petiole. Stem short, sub-simple or forked, shrubby carnose. h. 5ft. 1862. O. tuberosa (tuberous-rooted). fl.-heads solitary, rather large, terminal. August. l., radical ones petiolate, broadly ovate or obovate; stem ones few, ovate or oblong. Root tuberous. 1842. Herb. (B. M. 4038.)