Ptilotus macrocephalus

{{short description|Species of plant}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}

{{Speciesbox

|image = Ptilotus macrocephalus.jpg

|genus = Ptilotus

|species = macrocephalus

|authority = (R.Br.) Poir

}}

Ptilotus macrocephalus (commonly as featherheads, green mulla mulla or green pussytails) is a native Australian perennial herb growing up to {{convert|50|cm|in|0}} high.{{Cite journal|last=Hammer|first=Timothy|last2=Davis|first2=Robert|last3=Thiele|first3=Kevin|date=8 May 2019 |title=Of a different feather: two new species of featherheads from the Ptilotus macrocephalus (Amaranthaceae) complex|journal=Australian Systematic Botany|volume=32|issue=1|pages=61–70|doi=10.1071/SB18065|doi-access=free}} The species was originally described as Trichinium macrocephalum by Robert Brown in 1810 based on specimens from Victoria, Australia.{{Cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/3678|title=Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van-Diemen, exhibens characteres plantarum|last=Brown|first=Robert|date=1810|publisher=typis R. Taylor et socii|location=Londini|doi=10.5962/bhl.title.3678}} In 1816, it was first transferred to the genus Ptilotus by Jean Louis Marie Poiret.{{Cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/826|title=Encyclopédie méthodique. Botanique. Supplement.|last=Lamarck|first=Jean-Baptiste|last2=Poiret|first2=Jean-Louis-Marie|date=1810|publisher=Agasse |location=Paris |doi=10.5962/bhl.title.826}} While once considered distributed throughout most of the Australian mainland, current research limits the distribution of P. macrocephalus to south-eastern Australia, mostly in south-eastern South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. A study by Hammer et al. (2019) determined that specimens previously identified as P. macrocephalus are morphologically and ecologically distinct species, the now named Ptilotus xerophilus T.Hammer & R.W.Davis (arid central and western Australia) and Ptilotus psilorhachis T.Hammer & R.W.Davis (eastern Queensland).

P. macrocephalus has cream-green coloured ovoid flower heads. As with other green-flowered Ptilotus species (e.g. Ptilotus nobilis), they are thought to be predominantly pollinated by nocturnal moths.