Grass Cushion
Whole
Grass Cushion
Leaf, wide at Base
| Grass Cushion Whole | | Grass Cushion Leaf, wide at Base | | ||
 | Class: | Plants (Plantae) - Land Plants (Charophyta) - Land Plants (Equisetopsida) | |||
| Order: | Sunflowers (Asterales) | ||||
| Family: | Daisy (Asteraceae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Grass Cushion (Isoetopsis graminifolia) | ||||
| This Photo: | In Flower | ||||
| Other name: | Grass Buttons | ||||
Thank you Dr Kym Nicolson & Tony and Jenny Dominelli for confirming the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Riverland and elsewhere As the name suggests, looks like tufts of lawn grass. On closer inspection you can see the cylindrical, succulent, green leaves. Almost flat and wide at the base, quickly turning cylindrical. The sparse hairs start along the flat edges thinning out up the leaf. The flowers are nearly invisible to the eye when walking past, you have to get down on your hands and knees to see them. Like all flowers in the daisy family, they are compound flowers; tiny flowers (called "Florets") inside a larger cluster. The florets start off green and turn white with age. Because of the white flowers, we miss-identified some plants as Woolly Heads (Myriocephalus rhizocephalus); but the flowers on these are on stalks. These are petalless flowers, with large green sepals encapsulating the florets. The fruits are called "Achenes". Similar Species: Elachanth (Elachanthus pusillus) | |||||
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