Angianthus phyllocalymmeus
Angianthus phyllocalymmeus, commonly known as saltlake candle-daisy, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, and is endemic to the south of South Australia. It is an erect annual herb with linear leaves, compound heads of 40 to 100 yellow flowers, and elliptic achenes with a jagged pappus.
Description
Angianthus phyllocalymmeus is an erect, branched, annual herb that typically grows to a height of. The leaves are arranged alternately, linear, long and about wide. The flowers are golden yellow and borne in compound heads of 50 to 100 pseudanthia, the heads long and wide. There are about ten narrowly elliptic or lance-shaped bracts long and long at the base of the compound heads, and two bracts long at the base of the pseudanthia with the edge curved so as to slightly cover the florets. The achenes are elliptic, long and about in diameter, and the pappus is a jagged scale.
Taxonomy
This species was first formally described in 1855 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Pleuropappus phyllocalymmeus in the Transactions and Proceedings of the Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science, from specimens collected by Carl Wilhelmi "on sterile plains" near Port Lincoln in South Australia. In 1917, George Druce transferred the species to Angianthus as A. phyllocalymmeus.
Distribution and habitat
Angianthus phyllocalymmeus grows exclusively in sandy or clay loam on the edges of saline depressions, associated with Halosarcia in the Eyre Yorke Block of southern South Australia.
Conservation status
Angianthus phyllocalymmeus is listed as "vulnerable" by the IUCN.