''Olearia arckaringensis'', commonly known as Arckaringensis daisy, is a species of 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 ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to a restricted area of northern South Australia. It is a small, compact, rounded shrub with woolly-hairy foliage, coarsely-toothed, elliptic leaves and lavender or white and yellow, daisy-like

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, 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 mai ...

Description

''Olearia arckaringensis'' is a small, compact, rounded shrub with a thick, woody base, its stems covered with white, woolly hairs. The leaves are elliptic, long and wide on a

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

long and white woolly-hairy with four to eight coarse teeth on the edges. The heads are arranged singly on the ends of branchlets, each head or daisy-like "flower" on a peduncle long with 61–80 outer

involucral bracts In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also look ...

. There are 36 to 60 ray

florets This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary ...

, the petal-like

ligule A ligule (from "strap", variant of ''lingula'', from ''lingua'' "tongue") is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above g ...

lavender or white and long, surrounding 44–72 yellow disc florets. The fruit is a hairy, light brown cypsela long, the pappus with 18–28 bristles.

Taxonomy and naming

''Olearia arckaringensis'' was first formally described in 2008 by Peter J. Lang in the ''

Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens The Adelaide Botanic Garden is a public garden at the north-east corner of the Adelaide city centre, in the Adelaide Park Lands. It encompasses a fenced garden on North Terrace (between Lot Fourteen, the site of the old Royal Adelaide Hospita ...

'' from specimens collected on Arckaringa Station in 2000. 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 ...

(''arckaringensis'') refers to the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

location.

Distribution and habitat

This daisy-bush grows in low, open woodland on dissected breakaways on the Arckaringa Hills in northern South Australia.

Conservation status

Arckaringensis daisy is listed as "endangered" under the Australian Government ''

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cult ...

''. The main threats to the species include grazing and trampling by feral animals and livestock.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q65944392 Flora of South Australia arckaringensis Plants described in 2008