Brachyglottis elaeagnifolia (Hook.f.) B.Nord.

An evergreen shrub 4 to 10 ft high in the wild state; young shoots slightly channelled, clothed like the under-surface of the leaves and the flower-stalks with a pale, buff-coloured felt. Leaves, mostly oval or obovate, tapered at the base, blunt or rounded at the end, 2 to 5 in. long, 1 to 31⁄2 in. wide, glabrous and glossy above; stalk grooved, 1⁄2 to 13⁄4 in. long. Inflorescence a terminal pyramidal panicle 3 to 6 in. high. Flower-heads 1⁄3 to 1⁄2 in. wide, with nine to twelve very woolly scales surrounding the base of each of them.

Native of the North Island of New Zealand, where it ascends to 4,500 ft; very abundant in some places. It is similar to B. rotundifolia var. rotundifolia, especially in having no ray-florets, but the leaves of that species are relatively broader in outline and the inflorescence is shorter, often much broader and more rounded. Neither has really any beauty of flower. B. elaeagnifolia is much the less common of the two in cultivation in the British Isles, and some of the records of this species refer to misidentified narrow-leaved variants of B. rotundifolia var. rotundifolia.