Common Lagenophora

Description:

My 800th PN spotting is this modest, tiny little daisy, found all alone in the middle of a clearing on a sheep farm. I walked for many kilometres around this property, and after finding this single specimen I started looking for more, but no more were to be found so I doubled back later in the day to take its photo. I'm confident this is a species of Lagenophora, a genus of herbs in the daisy family Asteraceae. Lagenophora stipitata occurs naturally in this area. It has a typical small "daisy" flower, and this specimen was roughly the size of a 5 cent coin. Colours range from white, pink, purple to blue. There's a rough vehicle track in use plus hundreds of sheep and cattle that trample through here, not to mention an army of roos that know a tasty morsel when they see one, but this daisy has managed to survive them all. It is also surviving a severe drought, so it's a tough little plant that deserves pride of place at #800.

Habitat:

New England District of the Northern Tablelands, NSW. Rural landscape (sheep and cattle farm), but large areas of natural bushland vegetation in the area. Fully-exposed in a clearing with sandy soils. Drought conditions still persist. There's not much moisture around except for heavy frosts, but It seems to be coping.

Notes:

There are several naturally-occurring Asteraceae in this region, and other ID possibilities for this spotting include: Stuart's daisy (Brachyscome stuartii), white burr daisy (Calotis dentex), and slender bottle-daisy or slender Lagenophora (Lagenophora gracilis) which varies in colour from white through to purple.