''Calotis cuneifolia'' commonly known as purple burr-daisy, is a flowering plant in the family

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

found in many parts of eastern and central Australia. It has purple, white or blue daisy-like flowers with variable shaped leaves.

Description

''Calotis cuneifolia'' is a small perennial upright or prostrate herb to high and covered with rigid hairs. The basal leaves more or less woody, soon withering, upper leaves wedge to spoon-shaped, lobed near the apex, long, wide, simple,

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

, occasional hairs and arranged alternately. The blue, white or purple flower heads in diameter, single or in two or three

cymes In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a main axis ( ped ...

on slender stems with a yellow disc. Flowering occurs mostly from September to December and the fruit is a flattened cypsela covered with barbed spines.

Taxonomy and naming

''Calotis cuneifolia'' was first formally described in 1810 by

Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author Entertainers and artists * Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer * Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...

and the description was published in ''The Botanical Register: Consisting of Coloured Figures of Exotic Plants, Cultivated in British Gardens; with their History and Mode of Treatment''. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...

was collected by Allan Cunningham on the banks of the

Lachlan River The Lachlan River (Wiradjuri: ''Kalari'', ''Galiyarr'') is an intermittent river that is part of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, located in the Southern Tablelands, Central West, and Riverina regions of New Sou ...

in 1817. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

"cuneifolia" refers to the wedged shape leaves.Les Robinson - Field Guide to the Native Plants of Sydney, page 132

Distribution and habitat

Purple burr-daisy grows in grassland and forests in a variety of soils in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory.

References

Astereae Plants described in 1820 Flora of New South Wales Flora of Victoria (state) Flora of Queensland Flora of South Australia Flora of the Northern Territory {{Astereae-stub