''Leptorhynchos tenuifolius'', commonly known as wiry 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 ...

, multi-branched and has yellow flowers and grows in Victoria and South Australia.

Description

''Leptorhynchos tenuifolius'' is a multi-stemmed upright to ascending multi-branched perennial, covered with soft hairs to smooth and high. Leaves are narrow, linear-shaped, pointed, margins recurved, long, wide, basal leaves longer and wider. The flower heads are oblong-cone shaped, about in diameter, outer

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 clear with a brown tip, margins densely covered with spreading, soft hairs and the florets yellow. Flowering occurs from October to March and the fruit is a cypsela about long and smooth.

Taxonomy and naming

''Leptorhynchos tenuifolius'' was first formally described in 1858 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 the description was published in '' Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae''.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 ...

(''tenuifolius'') means "slender leaved".

Distribution and habitat

Wiry buttons is a locally common species growing in a variety of situations including woodlands, forest and wet areas on sandy soils in Victoria and South Australia.

References

Flora of South Australia Flora of Victoria (state) tenuifolius Plants described in 1858 {{Astereae-stub