Leucochrysum albicans

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Leucochrysum albicans
Leucochrysum albicans.jpg
Near Licola, Victoria
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Leucochrysum
Species:
L. albicans
Binomial name
Leucochrysum albicans
Synonyms [1]
  • Argyrocome albicans(A.Cunn.) Kuntze
  • Elichrysum albicansA.Cunn. orth. var.
  • Helichrysum albicansA.Cunn.
  • Helipterum albicans(A.Cunn.) DC.
  • Roccardia albicans(A.Cunn.) Voss

Leucochrysum albicans, commonly known as hoary sunray, [2] is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is a small perennial with grey leaves, white or yellow flower-heads and is endemic to Australia.

Contents

Description

Leucochrysum albicans is an upright, tufted perennial to 45 cm (18 in) high. The leaves are linear to oblong or broadly egg-shaped, woolly, 2–10 cm (0.79–3.94 in) long, 1–9 mm (0.039–0.354 in) wide, light grey and crowded near the base of the stems. The flower heads 2–4 cm (0.79–1.57 in) in diameter, borne singly on a slim peduncle 7–15 cm (2.8–5.9 in) long. The outer bracts brown, inner bracts white or yellow in rows, triangular to narrow-elliptic shaped with a woolly lamina at the base. Flowering occurs in spring and summer and the fruit is an achene 3 mm (0.12 in) long and covered with feathery-like white bristles. [3] [4] [5] [6]

Taxonomy and naming

The species was first formally described by botanist Allan Cunningham in 1825 in Geographical Memoirs on New South Wales and gave it the name Helichrysum albicans. [7] In 1992 Paul Graham Wilson changed the name to Leucochrysum albicans in the journal Nuytsia . [8] [9] The specific epithet (albicans) means "whitish". [10]

In the same edition of the journal Nuytsia, Wilson described three varieties and two subspecies, albicans and alpinum of L. albicans. [9] In 2010 Neville Grant Walsh transferred von Mueller's Helipterum incanum var. alpinum to Leucochrysum as L. alpinum in the journal Muelleria , including L. leucochrysum subsp. alpinum as a synonym. [11] In a 2015 edition of Muelleria, Walsh raised the rank of de Candolle's Helipterum incanum var. tricolor to subspecies as L. albicans subsp. tricolor. [12]

The names of the two subspecies have been accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

Distribution and habitat

Hoary sunray is a widespread species found growing in moist, rocky alpine locations in woodlands and grasslands on nutrient poor soils in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania. [3] [4] [5] [15] Subspecies tricolor mainly grows in grassland or grassy woodland at altitudes between about 100 and 900 m (330 and 2,950 ft) in disjunct populations in Tasmania, Victoria and south-eastern New South Wales, although it has not been recorded this century in Victoria. [17] [18] [19] [20]

Conservation status

Subspecies tricolor is listed as "endangered" under the Australian Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 , [20] the New South Wales Government Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 [19] and the Victorian Government Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 . [18] A National Recovery Plan has been prepared. [21]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Grevillea victoriae</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to New South Wales and Victoria, Australia

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<i>Leucochrysum</i> Genus of flowering plants

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<i>Phebalium squamulosum</i> Species of shrub

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<i>Pomaderris oraria</i> Species of shrub

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<i>Pomaderris paniculosa</i> Species of plant

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<i>Rhodanthe anthemoides</i>

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<i>Phebalium glandulosum</i> Species of plant

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<i>Philotheca myoporoides</i> Species of flowering plant

Philotheca myoporoides, commonly known as long-leaf wax flower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a shrub with sessile, oblong to egg-shaped, glandular-warty leaves and white to pink flowers arranged singly in leaf axils. Prior to 1998 it was known as Eriostemon myoporoides.

<i>Pimelea spinescens</i> Species of shrub

Pimelea spinescens, commonly known as plains rice-flower, spiny rice-flower or prickly pimelea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to Victoria. It is a spreading undershrub with elliptic leaves arranged in opposite pairs, and heads of white, cream-coloured or yellow flowers surrounded by 4 elliptic, leaf-like involucral bracts.

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<i>Rhodanthe floribunda</i>

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<i>Pomaderris andromedifolia</i> Species of shrub

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<i>Pomaderris helianthemifolia</i> Species of shrub

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<i>Pomaderris ligustrina</i> Species of flowering plant

Pomaderris ligustrina, commonly known as privet pomaderris, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rhamnaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is a shrub with hairy stems, lance-shaped to narrowly elliptic leaves, and loose clusters of cream-coloured or yellow flowers.

<i>Pomaderris phylicifolia</i> Species of plant

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<i>Pomaderris pilifera</i> Species of plant

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<i>Rhodanthe humboldtiana</i>

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<i>Leucochrysum molle</i> Species of flowering plant

Leucochrysum molle, commonly known as hoary sunray, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is a small, clumping perennial with grey leaves, yellow flower-heads and is endemic to Australia.

<i>Hyalosperma praecox</i> Species of plant

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References

  1. 1 2 "Leucochrysum albicans". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  2. "Leucochrysum albicans". Native Plant Profiles. Australian Native Plant Society (Australia). Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Leucochrysum albicans (A.Cunn.) Paul G.Wilson". PlantNET - New South Wales Flora Online. Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust, Sydney Australia. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  4. 1 2 Schaumann, M.; Barker, J.; Grieg, J. (1987). Australian Daisies. Sydney: Lothian Publishing. p. 156. ISBN   0850912911.
  5. 1 2 Sharp, Sarah; Rehwinkel, Rainer; Mallinson, Dave; Eddy, David (2015). Woodland Flora a Field Guide for the Southern Tableland (NSW & ACT). Canberra: Horizons Print Management. ISBN   9780994495808.
  6. Short, Philip S.; Walsh, Neville G. "Leucochrysum albicans". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  7. "Helichrysum albicans". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  8. "Leucochrysum albicans". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  9. 1 2 Wilson, Paul (1992). "Leucochrysum albicans". Nuytsia. 8 (3): 442. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  10. George, A.S; Sharr, F.A (2021). Western Australian Plant Names and their meanings (4th ed.). Kardinya: Four Gables. p. 131. ISBN   9780958034197.
  11. Dennis, R.J.; Walsh, Neville G. (2010). "A revision of the Leucochrysum albicans (Asteraceae: Gnaphalieae) complex". Muelleria. 28 (2): 133–134. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  12. Walsh, Neville G. (2015). "Elevation of rank for Leucochrysum albicans var. tricolor (Asteraceae: Gnaphalieae)". Muelleria. 34: 13. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  13. "Leucochrysum albicans subsp. albicans". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  14. Wilson, Paul G. "Leucochrysum albicans var. albicans". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  15. 1 2 Short, Philip S. "Leucochrysum albicans subsp. albicans". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  16. "Leucochrysum albicans subsp. tricolor". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  17. 1 2 Wilson, Paul G. "Leucochrysum albicans var. tricolor". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  18. 1 2 3 Short, Philip S.; Walsh, Neville G. "Leucochrysum albicans subsp. tricolor". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  19. 1 2 "Hoary Sunray - profile". New South Wales Government Office of Environment and Heritage. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  20. 1 2 "SPRAT Profile Leucochrysum albicans subsp. tricolor". Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  21. Sinclair, Steve J. "National Recovery Plan for the Hoary Sunray Leucochrysum albicans var. tricolor" (PDF). Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Retrieved 18 June 2023.