''Cassinia leptocephala'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to New South Wales. It is a large, woody shrub with hairy, reddish stems, stiff linear leaves, and

heads A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may no ...

of pale yellow flowers arranged in a dense corymb.

Description

''Cassinia leptocephala'' is a robust, woody shrub that typically grows to a height of up to and has reddish stems densely covered with yellowish glandular hairs. The leaves are stiff, linear, long and wide with the edges rolled under. The base of the leaves is stem-clasping and the lower surface is scaly and covered with glandular hairs. The flower heads are long and about wide, each with two or three pale yellow

florets This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

surrounded by three or four overlapping rows of involucral bracts. The heads are arranged in a dense corymb up to in diameter. The achenes are about long with a pappus about long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Cassinia leptocephala'' was first formally described in 1863 by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

in '' Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae''. In 2004, Anthony Edward Orchard described two subspecies in '' Australian Systematic Botany'', and the names are accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Syst ...

: * ''Cassinia leptocephala'' subsp. ''everettiae'' Orchard has woolly involucral bracts; * ''Cassinia leptocephala'' Orchard subsp. ''leptocephala'' has more or less glabrous bracts.

Distribution and habitat

This cassinia grows in forest, from the Sydney region to the New England National Park and west to the

Warrumbungle Range The Warrumbungles is a mountain range in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The nearest town is Coonabarabran. The area is easiest accessed from the Newell Highway which is the major road link directly between Melbourne, Victoria ...

in New South Wales. Subspecies ''everettiae'' is restricted to the Warrumbungle Range.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15560156 leptocephala Asterales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller Plants described in 1863