Brachyscome spathulata

Location & distribution maps

Common name:                Spoon-leaved Daisy

Conservation status:  ...

Etymology:   

• The genus name Brachyscome is from the classical Greek brachys ("short") and kome ("hair"), a reference to the very short pappus bristles

• The specific epithet (spathulata) means "spoon-shaped"

Flowers:                  

• The flowers heads are borne singly, 10–20 mm in diameter, glandular, downy and the peduncle 15–40 cm long

• The involucral bracts are lance-shaped, herbaceous, membranous, glandular to covered with short, soft hairs

• The florets are mauve or light blue, occasionally white, a yellow central disc and the petal-like ligules 5–15 mm long

• Flowering stems hairy, bracts in a single row of about 20–30, narrowly elliptic or oblong-lance shaped, 6–9 mm long, 1–1.7 mm wide and usually green

• Flowering occurs from October to June

Fruit:                         

• A flattened, wedge-shaped cypsela, 2.2–5 mm long, 1.1–2.5 mm wide, brown and smooth

Leaves:         

• The basal leaves are spoon-shaped, 3–6 cm long, 8–34 mm wide, margins toothed and sessile

• The upper leaves are oblong-shaped, toothed, decreasing in size up the stem, woolly, 5–40 mm long, 1–11 mm wide and sessile

Stem & branches: 

Roots:         

Habit:        

• An upright, more or less smooth perennial herb to 60 cm high with a rosette of leaves at the base

Habitat:   

• Mmostly in sub-alpine woodland, heath, grassland and dry forests 

Distribution:                  

• NSW, Tasmania, Victoria and the ACT

Additional notes:   

• Taxonomy 

  • Brachyscome spathulata was first formally described in 1830 by Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré and the description was published in Voyage Autour du Monde ... sur les Corvettes de S.M. l'Uranie et la Physicienne. Botanique

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachyscome_spathulata (2024)