''Olearia arckaringensis'', commonly known as Arckaringensis daisy, is a species of flowering plant 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 ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to a restricted area of northern South Australia. It is a small, compact, rounded shrub with woolly-hairy foliage, coarsely-toothed, elliptic leaves and lavender or white and yellow, daisy-like

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

Description

''Olearia arckaringensis'' is a small, compact, rounded shrub with a thick, woody base, its stems covered with white, woolly hairs. The leaves are elliptic, long and wide on a petiole long and white woolly-hairy with four to eight coarse teeth on the edges. The heads are arranged singly on the ends of branchlets, each head or daisy-like "flower" on a peduncle long with 61–80 outer involucral bracts. There are 36 to 60 ray

florets This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

, the petal-like

ligule A ligule (from "strap", variant of ''lingula'', from ''lingua'' "tongue") is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf and leafstalk of many grasses (Poaceae) and sedges. A ligule is also a strap-shaped extension of the corolla, such as that of a ...

lavender or white and long, surrounding 44–72 yellow disc florets. The fruit is a hairy, light brown cypsela long, the pappus with 18–28 bristles.

Taxonomy and naming

''Olearia arckaringensis'' was first formally described in 2008 by

Peter J. Lang Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

in the ''

Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens The Adelaide Botanic Garden is a public garden at the north-east corner of the Adelaide city centre, in the Adelaide Park Lands. It encompasses a fenced garden on North Terrace, Adelaide, North Terrace (between Lot Fourteen, the site of the old ...

'' from specimens collected on

Arckaringa Station Arckaringa Station is a pastoral lease in the Australian state of South Australia which that once operated as a sheep station but now operates as a cattle station. It is located approximately south west of Oodnadatta and north of Coober Pe ...

in 2000. 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 ...

(''arckaringensis'') refers to the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

location.

Distribution and habitat

This daisy-bush grows in low, open woodland on dissected breakaways on the Arckaringa Hills in northern South Australia.

Conservation status

Arckaringensis daisy is listed as "endangered" under the Australian Government '' Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999''. The main threats to the species include grazing and trampling by feral animals and livestock.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q65944392 Flora of South Australia arckaringensis Plants described in 2008