Minnie Daisy
Fasciated Flower Head, Profile
Ellura
Minnie Daisy
Seeding
 
                      
Minnie Daisy (Minuria leptophylla)Class: Plants (Plantae) - Land Plants (Charophyta) - Land Plants (Equisetopsida)
Order: Sunflowers (Asterales)
Family: Daisy (Asteraceae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Minnie Daisy (Minuria leptophylla)
This Photo:     Perspective with Thumb

Thank you Asimakis Patitsas for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
Small plant with dark green succulent leaves and stem.
Large flowers, compared to plant size, with yellow centres.
Quite variable. Flowers: Pale Purple (lilac) to white. Petals narrow to wide.
Plant: Upright to sprawling (almost runner); bushy to thin/straggly.
Notice also the tips of the backs of flowers (bracts) can be red/brown or green.
Many of these variations could be different sub-species that we don't know about. However, we have seen lilac and white flowers on the same plant, so petal colour is not significant to identification.
As a compound flower, daisy flowers are often referred to as "Flower Heads". The tiny individual flowers inside the flower head are referred to as "Florets".
Notice the mutated flower here. This type of mutation is called "fasciation" and somewhat rare. But we have seen it more than once with Minnie Daisies.
You can see each floret produces one "fruit" which is a seed wrapped in an elaborate mechanism; which allows for wind & animal dispersal. It has "wings" coming from the top that catch the wind, and a leg both of which are covered in barbs to catch onto animal fur.

Copyright © 2013-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 14-Aug-2013
This species is classed as LC (Least Concern) in the Murray Mallee, SA, by DENR (Regional Species Status Assessments, July 2010)