Xeranthemum
(from xeros, dry, and anthemon, a blossom; alluding to the dry nature of the flowers, which retain their form and colour for years). Immortelle. SYN. Harrisonia (of Necker). ORD. Compositae. A small genus (four or five species) of hardy, erect, branched, hoary, annual herbs, inhabiting the Mediterranean region and the Orient. Flower-heads solitary, long-pedunculate at the tips of the branches, heterogamous, disk-formed; involucre campanulate or oblong-cylindrical; bracts in several series, imbricated, the inner ones pink or whitish (rarely blue?); receptacle flat, with rigid pales; limb of the florets bilabiate. Leaves alternate, narrow, entire. The two best-known species are here described. Seeds only require sowing on a light, rich soil. Several plants formerly included here will now be found under Helichrysum, Helipterum, and Phaenocoma. X. annuum (annual).* fl.-heads purple; involucre hemispherical, highly glabrous, the inner bracts much longer, diverging-radiate; florets more than 100. July. l. linear or oblong, with revolute margins. h. 2ft. South Europe, 1570. (J. F. A. 388.) X. erectum (erect). A synonym of X. inapertum.
X. inapertum (not open). fl.-heads white; involucre ovoid-oblong, highly glabrous, the inner bracts a trifle longer, scarcely radiating; florets thirty to forty. June. l. linear or oblong, with revolute margins. h. 2ft. South Europe and Persia, 1836. SYN. X. erectum.