''Ozothamnus alpinus'', commonly known as alpine everlasting,
[ is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is endemic to alpine and subalpine areas in south-eastern continental Australia.]
Description
''Ozothamnus alpinus'' usually grows to between high, branches densely covered in yellow, short, matted hairs, turning grey as they age. The leaves are spreading and crowded along the stem, oblong shaped, long and wide, margins flat or slightly curved under, apex rounded, and on a petiole long. The leaf upper surface is green and smooth, the lower surface yellowish with furry, long, stiff, shiny simple hairs. The inflorescence is a small dense head of 25-60 white to yellowish flowers in a cluster in diameter, individual flowers are long and wide. The 15-19 pink or red outer 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 stand out when the flowers are in bud. Flowering occurs from February to March and the fruit is a cylindric shaped cypsela long and tapering at the apex.
Taxonomy and naming
This species was described in 1951 by Norman Wakefield
Norman Arthur Wakefield (28 November 1918 – 23 September 1972) was an Australian teacher, naturalist, paleontologist and botanist, notable as an expert on ferns. He described many new species of plants.
Wakefield was born in Romsey, Victori ...
based on a specimen collected in 1888 by Carl Walter
Carl Walter (c. 1831 – 7 October 1907), also known as Charles Walter, was an Australian botanist and photographer. He was born in Mecklenburg, Germany in about 1831 and arrived in Victoria (Australia), Victoria in the 1850s.
Botanical work
W ...
at Mount Hotham and given the name ''Helichrysum alpinum''.
Distribution and habitat
Alpine everlasting occurs from the Mount Kosciuszko area and southwards on the edge of wet alpine heath or in bogs.[
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References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7116657
alpinus
Asterales of Australia
Flora of New South Wales
Flora of Victoria (state)
Plants described in 1951