Moss sunray | |
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Scientific classification
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Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Asterales |
Family: | Asteraceae |
Genus: | Hyalosperma |
Species: | H. demissum
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Binomial name | |
Hyalosperma demissum |
Hyalosperma demissum, commonly known as moss sunray, [2] is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is a small, annual herb with whitish yellow flowers and is endemic to Australia.
Hyalosperma demissum is a rounded, small annual to 5–20 mm (0.20–0.79 in) high and sparsely covered with long, soft, straight hairs or smooth. The leaves are linear and more or less triangular in cross-section, about 5 mm (0.20 in) long, about 0.2 mm (0.0079 in) wide and gradually tapering to a point. The whitish-yellow flowers are in dense clusters amongst the foliage, the bracts are arranged in 3-4 rows, broadly oblong to oval shaped, outer bracts 2–2.5 mm (0.079–0.098 in) long, almost translucent, light green, silvery or light yellowish brown. The florets are in groupings of 15-25 and the corolla has 3 or 4 lobes. Flowering occurs from September to December and the fruit is a dry, one-seeded, compressed, egg-shaped, warty and about 0.7 mm (0.028 in) long. [2] [3]
This species was described in 1852 by Asa Gray and given the name Pteropogon demissus. [4] In 1989 Paul G.Wilson changed the name to Hyalosperma demissum and the description was published in Nuytsia. [5] [6] The specific epithet (demissum) means "low-lying". [7]
Moss-sunray grows on clay, loam, sand plains, shallow rocky soils and winter-wet locations in Western Australia, Tasmania, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. [2] [8]