Ursinia
(named after John Ursinus, of Regensburg, 1608-1666, who wrote an "Arboretum Biblicum"). Including Sphenogyne. ORD. Compositae. A genus comprising fifty-four species of greenhouse or half-hardy, annual or perennial herbs or shrubs, natives of South Africa, one also extending to Abyssinia. Flower-heads solitary or loosely paniculate, heterogamous; involucre hemispherical or broadly campanulate, with several series of imbricated bracts; receptacle paleaceous; ray florets wholly yellow or purplish outside; disk yellow; achenes glabrous or pubescent. Leaves alternate, serrated, pinnatifid, or often pinnately dissected. A selection of the best-known species is here given. They are very elegant plants, and succeed in a compost of loam and peat. U. anthemoides and U. pulchra may be increased by seeds. The rest are greenhouse shrubs, cuttings of which will root readily in sand, under a glass.
U. abrotanifolia (Southernwood-leaved). fl.-heads solitary on tomentose peduncles 6in. to 10in. long; ray florets wholly yellow. July. l. bi-tripinnatisect, 1 1/2in. to 2in. long; segments narrow-linear, divergent, acute, the lowest short and nearly simple. Branches erect, curved, leafy, clothed with pale, woolly hairs. h. 1ft. to 2ft. 1789. SYN. Sphenogyne abrotanifolia.
U. anthemoides (Chamomile-like). fl.-heads on long, naked, drooping peduncles; ray florets purplish outside. August. l. either pinnatipartite or sub--pinnatipartite; lobes linear-filiform, acute or mucronate, the lower shorter or very small, the upper trifid or spinulose, spreading. h. 3in. to 12in. 1774 Half-hardy annual. SYNS. Arctotis anthemoides (B. M. 544), Sphenogyne anthemoides.
U. crithmifolia (Samphire-leaved).* fl.-heads 1in. to 1 1/2in. in diameter, on peduncles 3in. to 10in. long; ray florets wholly bright yellow. July. l. pinnatipartite or trifid, 1 1/2in. to 2in. long; lobes linear-filiform, semi-terete, acute, the lower ones short or obsolete, the rest elongated. h. 1ft. to 2ft. 1768. Erect and densely leafy. SYN. Sphenogyne crithmifolia (B. M. 3042).
U. dentata (toothed). fl.-heads rather small; ray florets coppery beneath; peduncles 6in. to 9in. long, one-headed. June. l. pinnatipartite, 1/2in. to 2/3in. long; lobes short, entire or trifid, the teeth tipped with a bristle. Branches curved, closely leafy. h. 1ft. to 2ft. 1787. SYN. Sphenogyne dentata. U. pilifera (bristle-bearing). fl.-heads on long, sub-hispid pedicels; ray florets purplish outside. December. l. pinnatisect, fleshy, spreading, shortly hispid; lobes linear, tipped with a bristle. 1821. Shrub diffuse. SYN. Sphenogyne pilifera (B. R. 604).
U. pulchra (pretty).* fl.-heads bright orange; ray florets somewhat lanceolate, bitten at the extremities. June and July. l. twice pinnate, sessile; leaflets linear, acute, somewhat recurved. Stems roundish, slightly declinate at the base, ascending, branched, smooth. h. 1ft. Native place unknown. 1836. Hardy annual. SYN. Sphenogyne speciosa (P. M. B. vi., p. 77).