''Hyalosperma praecox'' commonly known as fine-leaf sunray, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is an upright, annual herb with stems branching from the base and yellow or white flowers and grows in New South Wales and Victoria.

Description

''Hyalosperma praecox'' is an upright, multi-stemmed annual high with stems arising from the base. The leaves are narrow, green, long, decreasing in size toward the apex, upper leaves with a dry appendage, and tapering to a point. The white or yellow flowers are borne singly,

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 in several rows, outer bracts about long, inner bracts about long,

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 five lobes and about long. Flowering occurs in spring and the fruit is an oval-shaped cypsela about long and may be either smooth or warty.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first described 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 ...

and given the name ''Helipterum praecox''. In 1989

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 ...

changed the name to ''Hyalosperma praecox'' 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 ...

(praecox) means "early".

Distribution and habitat

Fine-leaf sunray grows in open forests or grasslands on sand or heavy loam soils in New South Wales and Victoria.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15585428 Gnaphalieae Flora of New South Wales Flora of Victoria (state) Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller