Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Vittadinia dissecta

Flower head and leafy stem (var. hirta). Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, near Hattah, Vic

Shrub (var. hirta). Photographer Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, western NSW

Line drawings (var. hirta). o. leaf. E Mayfield, National Herbarium of Victoria, © 2021 Royal Botanic Gardens Board

Line drawings (var. dissecta). n. leaf; seed. E Mayfield, National Herbarium of Victoria, © 2021 Royal Botanic Gardens Board

Common name

Dissected New Holland Daisy

Family

Asteraceae

Where found

Open forest, woodland, mallee, grassland, and cleared land.

Var dissecta:  Coast and ranges north of Bega.

Var. hirta:  North of West Wyalong. One sighting from north of Wagga Wagga.

Notes

Annual or perennial herb to 0.35 m tall. Hairy to sparsely hairy. Leaves alternating up the stems, 0.8-4 cm long, 5-20 mm wide, deeply 3-lobed, the lobes sometimes further divided, tips blunt. Upper leaves smaller and less dissected, sometimes entire. Flower heads 3.5-6 mm long, with white to pale blue or mauve 'petals' each 1.5–2.5 mm long, and yellow centres. Flower heads borne singly or in small clusters at the tops of the stems. Flowering: most of year.

Var. dissecta:   Leaves on the main stems 1.5–4 cm long, divided into three, to 20 mm in diameter, lobes blunt or rounded, and with a minute point. Upper leaves smaller and less dissected. Hairs sparse, stiff, somewhat appressed, to 1 mm long.

Data deficient Vic.

Var. hirta:  Leaves smaller than in var. dissecta, irregularly lobed or divided into three, lobes narrow and pointed or blunt; upper leaves sometimes entire. Hairs numerous, spreading, often 1–2 mm long.

Definite identification of most species of Vittadinia depends on microscopic examination of the seeds.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Vittadinia~dissecta (accessed 11 February, 2021)