Actinotus helianthi

Actinotus helianthi
At Henry Head Track, Botany Bay National Park
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Apiales
Family: Apiaceae
Genus: Actinotus
Species:
A. helianthi
Binomial name
Actinotus helianthi
Occurrence data from AVH

Actinotus helianthi, known as the flannel flower, is a common species of flowering plant native to the bushland around Sydney. It was named and first described by the French botanist Jacques Labillardière in his Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen the first general flora of Australia. According to historian Edward Duyker Labillardière could not have collected the type specimen personally and might have received it from Jean-Baptiste Leschenault de La Tour botanist on the expedition of Nicolas Baudin or another early French visitor to New South Wales.[1]

Despite its appearance, it is not a member of the daisy family but rather a species of the Apiaceae (formerly Mackinlayaceae) family, the same family as the carrot. Its generic name, meaning "furnished with rays", is derived from the Greek stem aktin-/ακτιν- "ray" or "spoke of a wheel" or "sunbeam",[2][3] while its specific epithet is derived from its resemblance to the genus Helianthus.[4] An iconic Sydney plant, its floral display has horticultural appeal which has seen limited use in the home garden and cut flower industry. It grows alongside the related lesser flannel flower (A. minor).

Flowers and leaves
seedhead
Waratah/flannel flower window – Drummoyne, Sydney
  1. ^ Duyker (2003) p. 232.
  2. ^ Liddell & Scott (1980). Greek-English Lexicon, Abridged Edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. ISBN 0-19-910207-4.
  3. ^ Blombery, Alec (1965). "The genus Actinotus". Australian Plants. 3 (22). ASGAP: 63–65. ISSN 0005-0008.
  4. ^ Elliot, Rodger W.; Jones, David L. (1982). "A-Ca". In Elliot, Rodger W.; Jones, David L. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants suitable for cultivation. Vol. 2. Lothian Publishing. pp. 1–507. ISBN 0-85091-143-5.