''Rhodanthe chlorocephala'' commonly known as pink and white everlasting, 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 ...

. It is a small, tufted plant with blue-green leaves, white, pink or yellow flowers and grows in Western Australia and South Australia.

Description

''Rhodanthe chlorocephala'' is a small annual with terminal, single flowers about in diameter borne on stems about long, greenish or yellow florets, papery pink, yellow, cream or white

bract 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 lo ...

s and buds with green outer bracts. The leaves are linear-shaped, blue-green, hairless, long on stems rising from the base of the plant. Flowering mostly occurs from June to November.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was described in 1851 by Nicolai Turczaninow as ''Schoenia chlorocephala''. In 1992

Paul G. Wilson Paul Graham Wilson (January 1928 – 29 July 2024) was an Australian botanist. As of 1998, Wilson was the most prolific contributor to the journal ''Nuytsia (journal), Nuytsia'', contributing to the first issue in 1970 and to the 12th volume in ...

changed the name to ''Rhodanthe chlorocephala'' and published in ''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

''. 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 ...

''chlorocephala'' means "green headed".

Subtaxa

The following subspecies are accepted: *''Rhodanthe chlorocephala'' subsp. ''chlorocephala'' *''Rhodanthe chlorocephala'' subsp. ''rosea'' (syn. ''Helipterum roseum'') *''Rhodanthe chlorocephala'' subsp. ''splendida''

Distribution and habitat

Pink and white everlasting grows in eucalypt woodland, wet areas, salt lakes, sand, clay and loam in Western Australia and South Australia.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3429582 chlorocephala Flora of Western Australia Flora of South Australia Taxa named by Nikolai Turczaninow Asterales of Australia