Craspedia variabilis

Craspedia variabilis, commonly known as billy buttons is an erect annual or perennial herb which occurs in all mainland states of Australia except for the Northern Territory and in a wide range of habitats in temperate zones but not in alpine areas.

Billy buttons
Craspedia variabilis near Cranbrook, Western Australia.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
(unranked):
Angiosperms
(unranked):
Eudicots
(unranked):
Asterids
Order:
Asterales
Family:
Asteraceae
Subfamily:
Asteroideae
Tribe:
Gnaphalieae
Genus:
Craspedia
Species:
C. variabilis
Binomial name
Craspedia variabilis
J.Everett & Doust[1]

Description

Craspedia variabilis grows to a height of 10–60 cm, with one to five flower spikes surrounded by a rosette of leaves, with more leaves scattered along the flower spike. Each leaf is spoon-shaped, about 5–13 cm long and 5–20 mm wide. The leaves are pale to olive-green and the flower spike straw-coloured to reddish and both leaves and flower spike are hairy. It has thick, spreading woolly roots and broad, reddish, overlapping leaf-bases which are retained at the base of the flower spike. The flowers, which appear from early spring to early summer, form a hemispherical head of about 40-100 small, golden-yellow individual small flowers, each with a short stalk.[2]

Taxonomy and naming

Following a review of the genus Craspedia, Joy Everett and Andrew Doust named C. variabilis as a new species, along with C. paludicola, C. canens and C. haplorrhiza. They describe C. variabilis as "a complex species with several forms, some of which may be separable on further work". The specific epithet (variabilis) refers to the number of different forms across its wide distribution.[1][2]

Distribution and habitat

Craspedia variabilis is found in a wide variety of habitats but never alpine.[2] In Western Australia it grows on seasonally wet flats, granite outcrops, slopes[3] and in the Sydney region its distribution is described as "widespread in open forests and grassland".[4]

Cultivation

Billy buttons can be propagated from seed and grown in full sun. It grows in any soil provided that it is not too wet. It can be treated as an annual and used effectively as a single specimen or as a massed bedding plant.[5]

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References
  1. "Crasspedia variabilis". APNI. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  2. Everett, Joy; Doust, Andrew N.L. (1992). "Four new Australian species of Craspedia sens, strict. (Asteraceae: Gnaphalieae)". Telopea. 5 (2): 36.
  3. "Craspedia variabilis J.Everett & Doust". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
  4. Carolin, Roger; Tindale, Mary (1994). Flora of the Sydney region (4th ed.). Chatswood, NSW: Reed. p. 556. ISBN 0730104001.
  5. Wrigley., John W.; Fagg, Murray (1983). Australian native plants : a manual for their propagation, cultivation and use in landscaping (2nd ed.). Sydney: Collins. p. 107. ISBN 0002165759.
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