Gnephosis macrocephala
{{short description|Species of plant}}
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|genus = Gnephosis
|species = macrocephala
|authority = Turcz.{{cite web |title=Gnephosis macrocephala |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/115650|publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=16 June 2025}}
|synonyms_ref =
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}}
Gnephosis macrocephala is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect annual herb with linear or lance-shaped leaves, compound heads of yellow flowers, and cone-shaped cypselas.
Description
Gnephosis macrocephala is an annual herb with main branches {{cvt|4–38|cm}} long with a few hairs. Its leaves are linear or lance-shaped, {{cvt|5–38|mm}} long and {{cvt|0.5–0.8|mm}} wide. The pseudanthia are arranged in very broadly oval or oblong compound heads of about 20 to 200, {{cvt|5.5–20|mm}} long and {{cvt|5.5–14|mm}} wide with four bracts in two rows, the outer bracts {{cvt|2.3–3.5|mm}} long, the inner bracts up to {{cvt|3–4.3|mm}} long. The petals are dark yellow or yellow-orange, and form a tube {{cvt|1.6–2.8|mm}} long and there are five stamens. Flowering has mostly been observed in October and November and the cypselas are conical, {{cvt|1.0–1.3|mm}} long with soft hairs hairs, the pappus a small cup about {{cvt|0.26–0.6|mm}} long.{{FloraBase|name=Gnephosis macrocephala|id=7998}}{{cite journal |last1=Short |first1=Philip Sydney |title=Notes concerning the classification of species included in Calocephalus R.Br. s.lat. and Gnephosis Cass. s.lat. (Asteraceae: Gnaphalieae), with descriptions of new genera and species. |journal=Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens |date=2016 |volume=29 |pages=204–205 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/325334#page/203/mode/1up |access-date=16 June 2025}}
Taxonomy and naming
Gnephosis macrocephala was first formally described in 1851 by Nikolai Turczaninow in the Bulletin de la Société impériale des naturalistes de Moscou from specimens collected by James Drummond in the Swan River Colony.{{cite web |title=Gnephosis macrocephala |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/550275 |publisher=Australian Plant Name Index |access-date=16 June 2025}}{{cite journal |last1=Turczaninow |first1=Nikolai |title=Papilionaceae. Podalyrieae et Loteae Australasicae Non-Nullae, Hucusque non Descriptae. |journal=Bulletin de la Société impériale des naturalistes de Moscou |date=1851 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=190–191 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/151106#page/196/mode/1up |access-date=16 June 2025}} The specific epithet (macrocephala) means 'large headed'.{{cite book |last1=George |first1=Alex |last2=Sharr |first2=Francis |title=Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings |date=2021 |publisher=Four Gables Press |location=Kardinya, WA |isbn=9780958034180 |page=246 |edition=3rd}}
Distribution and habitat
Gnephosis macrocephala grows in saline soil near salt lakes in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Geraldton Sandplains, Murchison and Yalgoo bioregions of south-western Western Australia.
References
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Category:Flora of Western Australia