Biology:Leucochrysum albicans

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Short description: Species of flowering plant

Leucochrysum albicans
Leucochrysum albicans.jpg
Near Licola, Victoria
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Leucochrysum
Species:
L. albicans
Binomial name
Leucochrysum albicans
(A.Cunn.) Paul G.Wilson[1]
Synonyms[1]
  • Argyrocome albicans (A.Cunn.) Kuntze
  • Elichrysum albicans A.Cunn. orth. var.
  • Helichrysum albicans A.Cunn.
  • Helipterum albicans (A.Cunn.) DC.
  • Roccardia albicans (A.Cunn.) Voss

Leucochrysum albicans, commonly known as hoary sunray,[2] is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is a small perennial with grey leaves, white or yellow flower-heads and is endemic to Australia.

Description

Leucochrysum albicans is an upright, tufted perennial to 45 cm (18 in) high. The leaves are linear to oblong or broadly egg-shaped, woolly, 2–10 cm (0.79–3.94 in) long, 1–9 mm (0.039–0.354 in) wide, light grey and crowded near the base of the stems. The flower heads 2–4 cm (0.79–1.57 in) in diameter, borne singly on a slim peduncle 7–15 cm (2.8–5.9 in) long. The outer bracts brown, inner bracts white or yellow in rows, triangular to narrow-elliptic shaped with a woolly lamina at the base. Flowering occurs in spring and summer and the fruit is an achene 3 mm (0.12 in) long and covered with feathery-like white bristles.[3][4][5][6]

Taxonomy and naming

The species was first formally described by botanist Allan Cunningham in 1825 in Geographical Memoirs on New South Wales and gave it the name Helichrysum albicans.[7] In 1992 Paul Graham Wilson changed the name to Leucochrysum albicans in the journal Nuytsia.[8][9]The specific epithet (albicans) means "whitish".[10]

In the same edition of the journal Nuytsia, Wilson described three varieties and two subspecies, albicans and alpinum of L. albicans.[9] In 2010 Neville Grant Walsh transferred von Mueller's Helipterum incanum var. alpinum to Leucochrysum as L. alpinum in the journal Muelleria, including L. leucochrysum subsp. alpinum as a synonym.[11] In a 2015 edition of Muelleria, Walsh raised the rank of de Candolle's Helipterum incanum var. tricolor to subspecies as L. albicans subsp. tricolor.[12]

The names of the two subspecies have been accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

  • Leucochrysum albicans (A.Cunn.) Paul G.Wilson subsp. albicans[13] has yellow inner involucral bracts.[14][15]
  • Leucochrysum albicans (DC.) N.G.Walsh subsp. tricolor[16] has white inner involucral bracts.[17][18]

Distribution and habitat

Hoary sunray is a widespread species found growing in moist, rocky alpine locations in woodlands and grasslands on nutrient poor soils in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania.[3][4][5][15] Subspecies tricolor mainly grows in grassland or grassy woodland at altitudes between about 100 and 900 m (330 and 2,950 ft) in disjunct populations in Tasmania, Victoria and south-eastern New South Wales, although it has not been recorded this century in Victoria.[17][18][19][20]

Conservation status

Subspecies tricolor is listed as "endangered" under the Australian Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999,[20] the New South Wales Government Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016[19] and the Victorian Government Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988.[18] A National Recovery Plan has been prepared.[21]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Leucochrysum albicans". Australian Plant Census. https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/118688. 
  2. "Leucochrysum albicans". Australian Native Plant Society (Australia). https://anpsa.org.au/plant_profiles/leucochrysum-albicans/. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Leucochrysum albicans (A.Cunn.) Paul G.Wilson". PlantNET - New South Wales Flora Online. Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust, Sydney Australia. http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Leucochrysum~albicans. Retrieved 21 November 2011. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 Schaumann, M.; Barker, J.; Grieg, J. (1987). Australian Daisies. Sydney: Lothian Publishing. p. 156. ISBN 0850912911. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 Sharp, Sarah; Rehwinkel, Rainer; Mallinson, Dave; Eddy, David (2015). Woodland Flora a Field Guide for the Southern Tableland (NSW & ACT). Canberra: Horizons Print Management. ISBN 9780994495808. 
  6. Short, Philip S.; Walsh, Neville G.. "Leucochrysum albicans". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/6266386a-7015-4ac6-9d90-8022c11f9de0. 
  7. "Helichrysum albicans". Australian Plant Name Index. https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/492921. 
  8. "Leucochrysum albicans". Australian Plant Name Index. https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/492921. 
  9. 9.0 9.1 Wilson, Paul (1992). "Leucochrysum albicans". Nuytsia 8 (3): 442. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53279398#page/138/mode/1up. Retrieved 14 June 2023. 
  10. George, A.S; Sharr, F.A (2021). Western Australian Plant Names and their meanings (4th ed.). Kardinya: Four Gables. p. 131. ISBN 9780958034197. 
  11. Dennis, R.J.; Walsh, Neville G. (2010). "A revision of the Leucochrysum albicans (Asteraceae: Gnaphalieae) complex.". Muelleria 28 (2): 133–134. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/59649266#page/51/mode/1up. Retrieved 17 June 2023. 
  12. Walsh, Neville G. (2015). "Elevation of rank for Leucochrysum albicans var. tricolor (Asteraceae: Gnaphalieae).". Muelleria 34: 13. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/59597077#page/15/mode/1up. Retrieved 17 June 2023. 
  13. "Leucochrysum albicans subsp. albicans". Australian Plant Census. https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/118690. 
  14. Wilson, Paul G.. "Leucochrysum albicans var. albicans". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=in&name=Leucochrysum~albicans~var.+albicans. 
  15. 15.0 15.1 Short, Philip S.. "Leucochrysum albicans subsp. albicans". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/0ea7d037-3a1a-4736-bcd3-49c30ad13139. 
  16. "Leucochrysum albicans subsp. tricolor". Australian Plant Census. https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/4432940. 
  17. 17.0 17.1 Wilson, Paul G.. "Leucochrysum albicans var. tricolor". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=in&name=Leucochrysum~albicans~var.+tricolor. 
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 Short, Philip S.; Walsh, Neville G.. "Leucochrysum albicans subsp. tricolor". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/b73e6f54-8032-4d29-8056-0089499d94c9. 
  19. 19.0 19.1 "Hoary Sunray - profile". New South Wales Government Office of Environment and Heritage. https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedspeciesapp/profile.aspx?id=20258. 
  20. 20.0 20.1 "SPRAT Profile Leucochrysum albicans subsp. tricolor". Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. https://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=56204. 
  21. Sinclair, Steve J.. "National Recovery Plan for the Hoary Sunray Leucochrysum albicans var. tricolor". Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/leucochrysum-albicans.pdf. 

Wikidata ☰ Q6534103 entry