Common name: Rock Daisy
Brachyscome petrophila G.L.Davis APNI* Description: Perennial, weakly ascending to erect, branching, rhizomatous herbs to c. 50 cm tall, branches with a sometimes dense vestiture of stalked glandular hairs.
Leaves cauline, mainly obovate to oblanceolate in outline, sometimes narrowly elliptic, 20–87 mm long, 4–24 mm wide, all leaves tapering to the base but sometimes forming a petiole-like base c. 12mm long. All leaves toothed or shortly lobed, with 5–27 ultimate segments, glabrous or with scattered stalked glandular hairs.
Flowerheads c. 5 mm diam., on scapes manifestly exceeding the uppermost leaves. Bracts c. 25, lanceolate, 3–3.8 mm long, mainly herbaceous but with narrow hyaline margins, with a prominent and often orange midrib, the entire bract glabrous or with stalked glandular hairs on surface and margins. Ray florets c. 28–50; corolla 6.5–7.8 mm long, 3- or 4-veined, white or mauve. Disc florets c. 60–70.
Achenes laterally compressed, obovoid, 1.6–2.3mm long, brown, variously hairy. Pappus an uneven crown of c.15 white or pale yellowish, smooth bristles 0.15–0.5 mm long which are joined at the base.
Flowering: Flowering has been recorded from August to January and also in March and May.
Distribution and occurrence: Possibly endemic to the drainage basin of the Snowy River and the nearby Tambo River in eastern Victoria and with a disjunct distribution in Nungatta N.P., N.S.W. Commonly grows on rocky slopes in open eucalypt forests.
NSW subdivisions: ST
Other Australian states: Vic.
There is considerable variation in the length of the stalked glandular hairs but otherwise this taxon is generally uniform in its morphological attributes.
Text by Louisa Murray
Taxon concept: Short, P.S. (2009) Muelleria (27)1: 20-21 Fig. 8
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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