Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Chrysocephalum semipapposum
Common name
Clustered everlasting, Yellow buttons
Family
Asteraceae
Where found
Dry forest, woodland, grassy areas, and rocky sites. Widespread.
Notes
Perennial herb or subshrub to 0.6 m tall. Stems woolly to hairy, becoming hairless, sometimes somewhat sticky. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, alternating up the stems, 0.2-5 cm long, 0.5-4 mm wide, tips pointed or with a small abrupt point, margins flat or more or less curved down, surfaces woolly to hairy, becoming hairless, sometimes somewhat sticky, the hairs often slightly denser on the lower surface. Linear or oblong axillary leaves, commonly less than 1 cm long, occur on late season secondary growth, smaller than on earlier season leaves, giving the plants a distinctively appearance of plants with two types of leaves, at least in the ACT. Flower heads 5-7 mm long, 3-7 mm in diameter, hemispherical or bell shaped to top shaped, with many small yellow or brownish 'petals', and yellow centres, in compact clusters, rarely single. Flowers most of the year, mostly Spring to Summer.
All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.
subsp. asperum: Stems and leaves covered in glandular hairs or sticky-rough, often with cottony hairs to some degree. Flower clusters usually dense and many-headed.
subsp. brevifolium: Stems and leaves (at least in upper part of the plant) sticky, almost hairless. Flower clusters usually rather loose, commonly 1–few-headed.
subsp. lineare: Stems and leaves covered by cottony hairs, not obviously glandular.
subsp. semipapposum: Stems and leaves covered by silky hairs which are sometimes gummed by a sticky exudate.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Chrysocephalum~semipapposum (accessed 30 April 2021)
PlantNET has not yet included descriptions of the subspecies.
VICFLORA descriptions: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/key/6922 (accessed 30 April 2021)
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