Golden everlasting

Today it was a short walk in the park from Gate #3, in the direction of the feral bee hive. This is a very common flower in the park and today we noted they are starting to go to seed.

This really needs to be seen in LARGE for the fine detail.

Xerochrysum bracteatum, commonly known as the golden everlasting or strawflower, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to Australia. Golden yellow or white flower heads are produced from spring to autumn; their distinctive feature is the papery bracts that resemble petals.

The species is widespread, growing in a variety of habitats across the country. The golden everlasting serves as food for various larvae of butterflies and moths, and adult butterflies, hoverflies, native bees, small beetles and grasshoppers visit the flower heads.

The plant is an erect perennial, or occasionally annual, herb that is simple or rarely branched at its base. It generally reaches 20 to 80 cm (8–32 in) in height, but can have a prostrate habit in exposed areas such as coastal cliffs.

The leaves are elliptic in shape and measure anywhere from 1.5 to 10 cm (0.6–4 in) long and from 0.5 to 2 cm (0.2–0.8 in) wide. They are also covered with cobwebby hairs. Like the flowers of all Asteraceae, they are composed of a central disc which contains a number of tiny individual flowers, known as florets; these sit directly on an enlarged part of the stem known as the receptacle.

The individual florets are yellow and really stand out against the general green ground cover in the park. Most of the plants we see in “our” Park grown quite low to the ground, we’ve never seen them very tall.

It obviously propagates from a wind-blown seed, much like a dandelion. They are very attractive and I can see a certain somebody planting them in our garden – especially as they are a bug magnet.