Haplopappus ericoides (Lessing) Hook. & Arn.

An evergreen shrub 3 to 5 ft high, with erect branchlets, slightly downy and glutinous when young. Leaves very small, numerous, and heath-like, from 1⁄8 to 1⁄3 in. long, of the thickness of stout thread; dark green, stalkless, produced in clusters at each joint. Flower-heads in corymbs borne on long slender stems, the whole forming a crowded mass of yellow blossom at the end of the shoots of the year; at their best in August and September. Each flower-head is 1⁄2 in. in diameter, with five ray-florets.

Native of California, and not hardy at Kew except on a wall. On the south coast it thrives well, especially at Worthing; it succeeded also in the Vicarage garden at Bitton, near Bristol. Like some other shrubby composites it is apt to wear out under cultivation, and should be occasionally renewed by means of cuttings, which root freely if put in a propagating frame with gentle heat in July. It is a pretty and interesting plant, quite distinct from all other introduced shrubby composites, especially in its deep green, heath-like foliage.