| − | Dimorphotheca aurantiaca, DC. Perennial, the st. natively more or Jess shrubby, erect, glabrous, with rod-like branches: lvs. linear-oblong or spatulate, thickish, obtuse, entire: fl.-heads large, rays orange-yellow; involucre-scales linear-acuminate, exceeding the disk, with a central line of hairs and paler margins. This brief botanical description does not in all ways fit the plant now in common cult, as D. aurantiaca, which is treated as a half-hardy annual, and which is apparently more or less modified by cult.; it is a very snowy plant (Fig. 1267), 12-16 in. high, from a short-decumbent base, with notched acute lvs., and terminal heads 2—2¾ in. across, and with curving rays of a rich glossy apricot- orange and a disk of brown-black; it is one of the best flower-garden subjects of recent years, the fls. opening in the sun and making a brilliant display in summer and till frost; of simple culture from seeds. Although long described in horticultural literature, it appears not to have come really into cult. until within the past few years, having been offered in Eu. in the fall of 1908. Recent forms under the name of D. aurantiaca hybrida (hybrids with D. annua), intro. in 1912, range in color from white and bluish-white to red, yellow, orange and salmon. B.M. 408 (as Calendula Tragus). G.C. III. 38:127. G. 31:205. J.H. III. 57:37. F.E. 31:308. Winter-flowering in S. Calif.
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