Little Button
Bud Head Growing with Stem
Little Button
Bud Head about to flower
| Little Button Bud Head Growing with Stem | | Little Button Bud Head about to flower | | ||
 | Class: | Plants (Plantae) - Land Plants (Charophyta) - Land Plants (Equisetopsida) | |||
| Order: | Sunflowers (Asterales) | ||||
| Family: | Daisy (Asteraceae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Little Button (Leptorhynchos tetrachaetus) | ||||
| This Photo: | Bud Head | ||||
| Other name: | Beauty Buttons | ||||
Thank you BaronSamedi for confirming the id of this species for us EXTRA - Photo Specific Information: It needs to be clarified that these are not "true" buds. Being compound flowers, these are the husks that will hold the many flowers that blossom from it. General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), Coastal Areas and elsewhere A small, yellow flowering, annual forb with long, hairy green leaves that flatten out then roll with age. Leaf back is felted. Starting bushy, they become slender as they flower. Their stems also turn red / copper as they age. The flowers are identical to wireworts. We have to turn the flower over and look at the back to tell the difference. Wireworts have black, curved, hairy backs (sepals) set in greeny white wool. Little Buttons have appendages (like minute leaves) set in white wool. The appendages are copper coloured in the bud, fading to beige in the flower. The main difference with the structure is that these have leaves up the flower stem. Whereas wireworts only have basal leaves. We'd say these flowers are, on average, a bit smaller than wirewort flowers. Individual wireworts can be significantly larger. Little Buttons are in bud almost from germination making them easy to ID early, unlike wireworts. Photos concentrate on the significant changes as it grows. Similar Species: Wirewort (Asteridea athrixioides) | |||||
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