''Helichrysum pumilum'', commonly known as dwarf everlasting, is a rosette herb from the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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 ...

. It is endemic to

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, where it is commonly found in the West and Southwest of the island state. It is distinctive by its inflorescence, with the flower stalk being densely matted in fine white hairs and the daisy-like flower head having numerous pink or white ray floret-like bracts.

Description

''Helichrysum pumilum'' grows as a low tufted,

perennial 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 ...

herb reaching around 10 cm tall. Leaves are linear to spathulate in shape, 15-50mm long and 1-5mm wide with revolute margins. They are grouped in a rosette and arise from the base of the plant. The variety ''spathulatum'' has shorter, more spathulate leaves, whilst the leaves of var.''pumilum'' are longer and more linear. Arising from the basally sheathing leaves is an inflorescence containing a white, woolly scape with few leaf-like bracts, 20-100mm long. Forming a rosette around the flower head are elliptic to linear shaped bracts, or phyllaries, resembling the look of ray florets. Outer bracts mostly white in colour but can be streaked with pink, inner bracts are white or pink. The florets are in the form of corolla tubes in the pseudanthium, they are numerous and pink to purple in colour. Flowers in Summer, between December and February. This plant can be mistaken for ''

Celmisia ''Celmisia'' (New Zealand aster or New Zealand daisy) is a genus of perennial herbs or subshrubs, in the family Asteraceae. Most of the species are endemic to New Zealand; several others are endemic to Australia. ; Species and nothospecies #RED ...

'' ''saxifraga'' but the heads lack ray florets and the leaves are not silvery and hairy above.

Taxonomy

''Helichrysum pumilum'' was originally described by Joseph Dalton Hooker in his book from the

Ross expedition The Ross expedition was a voyage of scientific exploration of the Antarctic in 1839 to 1843, led by James Clark Ross, with two unusually strong warships, HMS ''Erebus'' and HMS ''Terror''. It explored what is now called the Ross Sea and discov ...

named '''The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror, in the Years 1839-1843, Under the Command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. Part III''. In his original description, Hooker noted ''H.pumilum'' as the smallest of the ''Helichrysum'' species and described the possible existence of a broader leaved form of the plant, which he called ''var β.'' A.M Buchanan later recognized this different form as distinct at the variant level, designating it the name ''Helichrysum pumilum var.spathulatum''.

Distribution and habitat

Endemic to

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, ''Helichrysum pumilum'' grows mostly in the West and Southwest of the state. Seemingly rare sightings have been recorded in the East of the state. The range of ''H. somalense'' extends from

buttongrass ''Gymnoschoenus sphaerocephalus'', commonly known as buttongrass, is a species of tussock-forming sedge from southeastern Australia. It forms part of a unique habitat in Tasmania. It was originally described as ''Chaetospora sphaerocephala'' by ...

plains to sub-alpine areas, even to the slopes or summits of mountain ranges. The originally described variety, ''somalense'', is mostly confined to the low nutrient, peaty soils of

plains, occasionally creeping into sub-alpine areas. The variety described by A.M Buchanan, ''spathulatum,'' is more confined to the mountainous alpine areas of the West and Southwest, growing in shallow, skeletal soils.

Ecology

Along with various other seeds and flowers of low moorland or sedge-land plains, ''Helichrysum pumilum'' is an important food source for the critically endangered Orange-bellied parrot. This small, migratory parrot feasts on the flowers of ''H. pumilum'' towards the end of their breeding season, between late summer and early autumn.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15584308 somalense