Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Brachyscome ciliaris
Variable daisy
Asteraceae
Forest, woodland, shrubland, grassy areas, roadsides, and lake margins. Widespread but rarely coast and ranges.
Annual or perennial herb or shrub to 0.45 m tall. Scapes hairless, sticky, hairy, or sticky-hairy. Leaves alternating up the stems, 0.5-6 cm long, 1–20 mm wide, hairless to hairy, sometimes sticky, margins entire, toothed, or deeply dissected, the segments sometimes dissected, tips pointed. Flower heads with 20-91 white to mauve or pink to purple ‘petals’ each 2-9 mm long, and yellow centres 2.6-15 mm in diameter. Bracts appressed to the flower heads 12-30. Flowers most of the year. 'Seeds' flattened, usually some winged, some not winged.
Definite identification of most species of Brachyscome depends on microscopic examination of the seeds.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Brachyscome~ciliaris (accessed 6 January, 2021)
Description partly based on: Short, P.S. (2014), A taxonomic review of Brachyscome Cass. s.lat. (Asteraceae: Astereae), including description of a new genus, Roebuckia, new species and new infraspecific taxa. Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens 28: 59-62. This description no longer recognises subspecies.
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