Calocephalus platycephalus
| Yellow top | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Genus: | Calocephalus |
| Species: | C. platycephalus
|
| Binomial name | |
| Calocephalus platycephalus | |
Calocephalus platycephalus commonly known as western beauty-heads or yellow top,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is an upright to sprawling herb with white hairy foliage and yellow ball-shaped flower heads and is endemic to Australia.
Description[edit]
Calocephalus platycephalus is a herb with upright to ascending, whitish woolly to hairy branches and about 6–45 cm (2.4–17.7 in) high. The leaves are arranged alternately, linear to lance-shaped, mostly 5–30 mm (0.20–1.18 in) long, 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) wide, more or less smooth to hairy, apex blunt to occasionally ending in a short triangular point in the upper leaves. The flower heads are yellow, broadly rounded to globe-shaped and 17-22 bracts. Flowering occurs mainly from spring to summer and the fruit is a bristly achene 0.5–0.65 mm (0.020–0.026 in) long.[2][3]
Taxonomy and naming[edit]
This species was described in 1867 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Pachysurus platycephalus.[4] In 1867 George Bentham changed the name to Calocephalus platycephalus and the description was published in Flora Australiensis.[5][6]The specific epithet (platycephalus) means "headed".[7]
Distribution and habitat[edit]
Western beauty-heads grows in sandy and sometimes semi-salines locations in New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.[2]
References[edit]
- ^ "Calocephalus platycephalus". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
- ^ a b c Brown, E.A. "Calocephalus platycephalus". PlantNET-NSW Flora online. Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
- ^ "Calocephalus platycephalus". eFloraSA-electronic Flora of South Australia. State Herbarium of South Australia. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
- ^ "Pachysurus platycephalus". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
- ^ "Calocephalus platycephalus". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
- ^ Bentham, George (1867). Flora Australiensis. London: Lovell Reeve & Co. p. 576.
- ^ George, A.S; Sharr, F.A (2021). Western Australian Plant Names and their meanings (4th ed.). Kardinya: Four Gables. p. 287. ISBN 9780958034197.