For quite a considerable time this common and well-known _Dimorphotheca_ was placed in herbaria under the name of _Dimorphotheca Ecklonis_, and Harvey, who examined specimens of this plant collected by Burke and Zeyher on the Aapies River and Magaliesberg, also included it under _D. Ecklonis_. Dr. Schlechter first recognised that the Transvaal plant was an undescribed species, but apparently did not realise that Burke and Zeyher had collected the plant close on a hundred years ago, as he founded his description on specimens collected by Mr. E. E. Galpin, F.L.S., in 1887, on the Saddleback Mountains, Barberton.
_Dimorphotheca spectabilis_ is a spring flowering plant, and is common around Pretoria during the months of September and October. It is a well-grown plant with large mauve flowers, and if introduced into cultivation would be an acquisition to any garden. The plant sets seed freely, and could easily be raised by this means. The species is poisonous, and in experiments carried out by the Division of Veterinary Research, the plant was found to cause death in sheep fed on it.
Specimens are preserved in the National Herbarium, Pretoria (Herb. No. 1470).
DESCRIPTION:--An herbaceous plant 24-40 cm. high with one or more stems arising from the apex of a stout deep underground root. _Stem_ terete, faintly furrowed, covered with short glandular hairs. _Leaves_ 2-4 cm. long, ·6-1 cm. broad, lanceolate or lanceolate-ovate, obtuse, tapering upwards from a broad base, sometimes slightly narrowed at the base, with a prominent midrib and two faint lateral nerves more distinct on the upper surface, punctate-glandular on both surfaces, and with glandular hairs beneath, ciliate with glandular hairs. _Flower head_ solitary at the ends of the stems. _Peduncle_ 6-10 cm. long, terete, furrowed, glandular-pubescent. _Involucral-scales_ in 2 rows, somewhat connate at the base, 1·3-2 cm. long, ovate, acuminate, acute with membranous margins, glandular-pubescent. _Receptacle_ 7 mm. broad, convex, hollow. _Ray florets_ female. _Corolla-tube_ 2 mm. long, cylindric, glandular-pilose; limb 2 cm. long, 4 mm. broad, linear, 3-toothed at the apex, glandular-pilose on the back at the base. _Style_ as long as the corolla-tube. _Disc florets_ hermaphrodite. _Corolla-tube_ 5 mm. long, cylindric, constricted and narrower near the base, sparsely covered with glandular hairs on the broader portion of the tube; lobes 2 mm. long, almost 1 mm. broad, lanceolate, obtuse. _Filaments_ 4 mm. long, linear; anthers 3·5 mm. long, with deep golden-yellow pollen. _Pappus_ none. _Ovary_ 3 mm. long, flattened, winged and 2-horned at the apex; style 6 mm. long, cylindric; lobes 1 mm. long, truncate at the apex. _Fruit_ 1·5 cm. long, flattened, orbicular, with a circular wing.