Woolly Yellow-heads
Above in Flower
Ellura
Woolly Yellow-heads
Early Leaf
 
                      
Woolly Yellow-heads (Trichanthodium skirrophorum)Class: Plants (Plantae) - Land Plants (Charophyta) - Land Plants (Equisetopsida)
Order: Sunflowers (Asterales)
Family: Daisy (Asteraceae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Woolly Yellow-heads (Trichanthodium skirrophorum)
This Photo:     A Small Patch, in early Bud
Synonyms: Angianthus codonopappus, Gnephosis codonopappa, Gnephosis codonopappus or Gnephosis skirrophora
Other name: Woolly Gnephosis

Thank you Stephen Fricker for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Riverland and elsewhere
We've searched for a decade to identify this plant, and finally found it.
Young seedlings are easy to confuse with Hairy Cup Flower, until the buds start to show. The Hairy Cup Flower then has a lime green bud, compared with this brown & white bud.
It is a very unique plant with it's defining characteristic being it's bud, which is how it spends most of it's short life. We use the phrase "Mace Bud" to describe it. (after the medieval weapon)
Once in flower it again blends in with the Hairy Cup Flowers, Wireworts & Little Buttons.

Copyright © 2013-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 10-Sep-2013
This species is classed as NT (Near Threatened) in the Murray Mallee, SA, by DENR (Regional Species Status Assessments, July 2010)