Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Helminthotheca echioides
Common name
Ox-tongue
Family
Asteraceae
Where found
Roadsides, gardens, and wasteland. Sydney and Canberra. Occasionally elsewhere.
Notes
Introduced annual to perennial herb to 1 m high, bristly with short star-shaped hooked rigid hairs. Stems thick, furrowed. Basal leaves 3.5–35 cm long, 10–100 mm wide, tips blunt to pointed, bases narrowed into winged stalks, margins wavy to toothed; lower stem leaves similar but the bases somewhat stem clasping; upper stem leaves alternating up the stems, bases stem clasping. Flower heads with many yellow 'petals', sometimes with a red stripe on the back. 'Petals' 12–17 mm long. Flower heads in loose branched clusters, appearing single. Flowers most of the year.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Helminthotheca~echioides (accessed 19 January, 2021)
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