''Hyalosperma demissum'', commonly known as moss sunray, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is a small, annual herb with whitish yellow flowers and is endemic to Australia.

Description

''Hyalosperma demissum'' is a rounded, small annual to high and sparsely covered with long, soft, straight hairs or smooth. The leaves are linear and more or less triangular in cross-section, about long, about wide and gradually tapering to a point. The whitish-yellow flowers are in dense clusters amongst the foliage, the

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s are arranged in 3-4 rows, broadly oblong to oval shaped, outer bracts long, almost translucent, light green, silvery or light yellowish brown. The florets are in groupings of 15-25 and the

corolla Corolla may refer to: *Corolla (botany), the petals of a flower, considered as a unit *Toyota Corolla, an automobile model name * Corolla (headgear), an ancient headdress in the form of a circlet or crown * ''Corolla'' (gastropod), a genus of moll ...

has 3 or 4 lobes. Flowering occurs from September to December and the fruit is a dry, one-seeded, compressed, egg-shaped, warty and about long.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was described in 1852 by

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually excl ...

and given the name ''Pteropogon demissus''. In 1989

Paul G.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 ...

changed the name to ''Hyalosperma demissum'' and the description was published in '' Nuytsia''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''demissum'') means "low-lying".

Distribution and habitat

Moss-sunray grows on clay, loam, sand plains, shallow rocky soils and winter-wet locations in Western Australia, Tasmania, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

References

{{Taxonbar , from=Q15584889 Gnaphalieae Flora of New South Wales Flora of Victoria (state) Flora of Tasmania Flora of South Australia Flora of Western Australia