NEW SOUTH WALES FLORA ONLINE

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Description: Perennial, stoloniferous herb, often forming extensive patches. Scapes 1 per rosette of leaves.

Leaves dark green, mainly in basal clusters, oblanceolate or spathulate, 15–38 mm long, 3–11 mm wide, with 5–13 lobes; surfaces of leaves withwith sparse to dense stalked glandular hairs. Scape with 3–16, oblanceolate, pinnatilobed or entire leaves.

Flowerheads terminal on long scapes 7–20 cm long, with stalked glands and long eglandular hairs. Involucre 9–16 mm diam., receptacle hemispherical. Involucral bracts c. 12–22 in about 1 row. c. of equal length, elliptic to narrow-elliptic, 4–6 mm long, thinly herbaceous with scarious margins and apices, often purplish apically. Ray florets c, 10 mm long, white or very pale mauve or violet. Disc florets 5-lobed. Stamens 5.

Achenes flattened, obovate, 1.5–2.4 mm long, smooth, glabrous, margins distinct from body, blackish at maturity except for carpopodium; pappus of short teeth, 0.05–0.1 mm long.

Flowering: Flowering and fruiting from December to March.

Distribution and occurrence: An alpine species found in the Mt Kosciuszko region of NSW and the Bogong High Plains, Dargo High Plains and Snowy Plains in Victoria.

Tussock grassland and alpine herbfield. Associated species include Brachyscome decipiens, B. scapigera, Carex breviculmis, species of Celmisia, Poa hiemata abd Rytiospermum nudiforum. It has been noted that a stoloniferous patch of this species contained up to 200 rosettes.
NSW subdivisions: ST

AVH map***

This species has black achenes and is generally more robust than Brachyscome tenuiscarpa which has brown or purplish achenes and to which this species has previously been referred.