Brachyglottis sciadophila


Brachyglottis sciadophila, commonly known as climbing groundsel, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It has long stems with small green leaves and bright yellow flowers. It is the only climbing daisy which has yellow flowers that is endemic to New Zealand.

Description

Brachyglottis sciadophila is a flowering plant with 5 m long woody stems. It is a climber and can be usually found growing over plants or in mats along the ground. When young, the stems are hairy but as it matures they grow papery bark which easily peels off. The leaves are oval shaped 1.5–3 by 1.5–3 cm and have soft hairs on both sides. They are sharply toothed and grow from 2 cm long slender petioles. It has yellow flowers which have capitula that are less than 1 cm in diameter and come in small panicles. The pedicels are covered with many tiny hairs and the involucre are 5 mm long. Achenes are 1–5 mm long hispidulous, and have 4 mm long pappus hairs.

Etymology

Brachyglottis comes from the two Greek words: brachys, meaning short, and glottis which is the vocal apparatus of the larynx. Sciadophila is made up of two Greek words: skia meaning shade, and philios meaning loving. Hence sciadophila means shade-loving.