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Venidium (name not explained by its author). Compositae. Annual or perennial herbs, grown for ornament.

Rays female: receptacle honeycombed, mostly nude: involucral scales in several rows, the outer narrower and herbaceous, inner scarious: achenes glabrous, dorsally 3-5-winged or -ridged, the lateral ridges inflexed, the medial straight, narrower; no hairs from the base of the achene: pappus either none or of 4 very minute, unilateral scales. — Eighteen species, S. Afr., 7 of which are annuals. By Hoffmann (Engler & Prantl, Pflanzenfamilien) united with Arctotis.

The following account of V. calendulaceum of the gardens as a garden plant is adapted from Gn. 21, page 405. It is a graceful single-flowered composite which flourishes under the ordinary treatment accorded half-hardy annuals, making a compact rounded mass 2 feet high and 3 feet wide. "There is considerable diversity in its seedlings both as regards habit and the size, shape and shading of its blossoms, and careful selection in seed-saving is needful in order to secure the best forms. It is admirably adapted for cutting, as the flowers open and shut as regularly as when on the plant." This species has also been treated as a greenhouse perennial, continuing to bloom until near midwinter. The flower-heads are fully 2 inches across.
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