''Coronidium scorpioides'', commonly known as the button everlasting, is a perennial herbaceous shrub 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 ...

found in Australia. Previously known as ''Helichrysum scorpioides'', it was placed in the newly described genus ''

Coronidium ''Coronidium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. The genus is endemic to Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, ...

'' in 2008.

Taxonomy and naming

Jacques Labillardière Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière (28 October 1755 – 8 January 1834) was a French biologist noted for his descriptions of the flora of Australia. Labillardière was a member of a voyage in search of the Jean-François de Galaup, comte ...

described the button everlasting as ''Helichrysum scorpioides'' in 1806 from a specimen collected in Tasmania. The large genus ''

Helichrysum The genus ''Helichrysum'' consists of an estimated 600 species of flowering plants in the sunflower family (Asteraceae). The type species is ''Helichrysum orientale''. They often go by the names everlasting, immortelle, and strawflower. The name ...

'' was long recognised as polyphyletic and many of its members have been transferred to new genera. Botanist

Paul Graham Wilson Paul Graham Wilson (born 1928) is an Australian botanist. He has been a most prolific contributor to the journal ''Nuytsia'', contributing to the first issue in 1970 and to the 12th volume in 1998, which was dedicated to him for his contribution ...

erected the new genus ''

'' for 17 species of daisy of the eastern states of Australia, and it was given its new name of ''C. scorpioides'' in 2008. Wilson suspects there may be several species within ''C. scorpioides'' as currently defined, but deferred formally splitting them when revising the genus.

Description

The button everlasting is a herbaceous

perennial plant A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

that grows to high from a woody rootstock. The woolly stems rise vertically and are unbranched, and are topped by the yellow flowerheads in spring.

Distribution and habitat

''Coronidium scorpioides'' is found from the Gibraltar Range in northern New South Wales, south through the eastern part of the state into Victoria and southeastern South Australia as well as Tasmania. It grows on heavier more fertile soils, such as brown clay or clay-loam, derived from

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

, or sandstone-shale, in open forest under such trees as narrow-leaved peppermint (''

Eucalyptus radiata ''Eucalyptus radiata'', commonly known as the narrow-leaved peppermint or Forth River peppermint, is a species of tree that is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has rough, fibrous to flaky bark on the trunk and larger branches, smooth grey b ...

''), Sydney peppermint ('' E. piperita''), brown barrel ('' E. fastigata''), grey gum ('' E. punctata''), manna gum ('' E. viminalis'') or Blaxland's stringybark ('' E. blaxlandii''), or in more open woodland under scribbly gum (''

Eucalyptus sclerophylla ''Eucalyptus sclerophylla'', known as the scribbly gum, is a tree native to eastern Australia. Very similar to the related Scribbly Gum (''E. haemastoma''), a better known tree. The best way of distinguishing the species is the smaller hemisph ...

'') and narrow-leaved apple (''

Angophora bakeri ''Angophora bakeri'', commonly known as the narrow-leaved apple, is a species of tree that is endemic to New South Wales. It has rough, fibrous bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of three or seven, w ...

'').

Ecology

''Coronidium scorpioides'' resprouts after bushfire, some plants taking as little as 16 weeks to flower.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5172305 scorpioides Flora of New South Wales Flora of Victoria (Australia) Garden plants of Australia Taxa named by Jacques Labillardière Taxa named by Paul G. Wilson