''Leptorhynchos squamatus'', commonly known as scaly buttons, is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

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 ...

. It is an upright to ascending

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

with variably shaped leaves and yellow flowers and grows in eastern Australia.

Description

Leptorhynchos squamatus is an upright or ascending herb 10–40 cm (3.9–15.7 in) high, stems mostly simple, woolly to smooth and aging to reddish brown. Its leaves are oblong or narrowly oblong-lance shaped, 1.5–3.5 cm (0.59–1.38 in) long and 2–4 mm (0.079–0.157 in) wide. Leaf lower surface smooth or more or less covered sparsely in longish, coarse hairs, upper surface covered with soft, appressed, woolly hairs at the apex. The

involucral 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 extend down the stalk of the inflorescence, mostly dry and scaly, clear or brownish. The flower heads are at the end of branches on a peduncle 5–15 cm (2.0–5.9 in) long, bell-shaped, 7–10 mm (0.28–0.39 in) long, 8–15 mm (0.31–0.59 in) in diameter and the florets yellow. Flowering occurs from summer to autumn and the fruit is an oblong to scythe-shaped achene.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was described in 1806 by Jacques Labillardière who gave it the name ''Chrysocoma squamata'' and the description was published in '' Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen''. In 1832

Christian Friedrich Lessing Christian Friedrich Lessing (10 August 1809 – 13 March 1862) was a German botanist who was a native of Syców, Groß Wartenberg, Niederschlesien. He was a brother to painter Carl Friedrich Lessing (1808–1880), and a grandnephew of poet Gotthold ...

changed the name to ''Leptorhynchos squamatus'' and the description was published in ''Synopsis Generum Compositarum''. 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 ...

(''squamatus'') means "scaly".

Distribution and habitat

Scaly buttons grows in a variety of situations including forest, mallee, bushland on clay and sandy soils in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.

References

Flora of South Australia Flora of Tasmania Flora of New South Wales Flora of Victoria (state) squamatus Plants described in 1832 {{Astereae-stub