Podolepis jaceoides

Location & distribution maps

Common name:         Showy Copper Wire Daisy

Conservation status: . . .

Etymology:   

Flowers:

• They produce flowers in an inflorescence called a capitulum (often referred to as a ‘head’)

• This is an evolved structure where a large number of modified flowers (florets) are grouped together to look like one flower

• The Sunflower (*Helianthus annuus) would be the most grandiose example

• The ‘petals’ of the capitula are actually ‘ray florets’ which contain a floret hidden inside the elongated ‘petal’ which is actually an extended limb of the corolla tube called a ligule

• The disc in the middle of the capitulum (often yellow or orange in colour) consists of very small ‘disc florets’ which have a small 3-5 lobed corolla tube with stamens and a carpel

• A frequent associated part of any capitulum is an involucre (overlapping rows) of bracts which typically subtend and surround the floral parts

• In this species, the heads are typically produced solitarily, at least 3 cm across, on long cauline stems; bright yellow in colour, with the ray florets having tridentate or 3-lobed apices on the outside of the head

Fruit:                            

• The fruit are achenes

• In this species, they are terete (tubular) to about 5 mm long, with a pappus of bristles

Leaves:         

• Simple leaves, produced both basally (in a rosette) and on raised flowering stems (cauline) – which are alternate

• In this species, the ground-basal leaves are numerous, up to 20 cm long, oblanceolate, entire and glossy green

• Stem (cauline) leaves are lanceolate and stem-clasping, to 5 cm long and about 1 cm wide, glossy green and and hairy beneath

Stem & branches: 

• Young stems are hairy

Roots:         

Habit:        

Habitat:   

• It is found in a range of habitats including dry sclerophyll woodlands, heathlands and shrublands, as well as open paddocks and regenerating disturbed areas

Distribution:                  

• It has a very large natural distribution; found in all botanical subdivisions of NSW, in scattered patches in some parts (largely absent between Griffith, the Victorian border and Mildura, and the very north-west corner of the state)

• It has a scattered distribution through Victoria, but found over most of the state. It has a scattered distribution through Queensland, across large parts of the state, north to about Clermont

• It is found in Tasmania sporadically as well as the islands of Bass Strait. It is found mostly in the south-east of South Australia, west to about Fowlers Bay and as far north as Gammon Ranges National Park

Additional notes:     

Sources of information:

• ANPS:        https://resources.austplants.com.au/plant/podolepis-jaceoides/#:~:text=Podolepis%20jaceoides%2C%20the%20Showy%20Copper,height%20of%20about%200.5%20centimetres (2024)