Dune Thistle
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 | Family: Daisy (Asteraceae syn. Compositae |
- Photos for Dune Thistle
| Scientific Name: | Actites megalocarpa (syn. Sonchus megalocarpus) |  Dune Thistle plant Photo: A J Brown |
Other Common Names: | Coast Dune Thistle, Coastal Sow Thistle, Beach Sow Thistle, Beach Thistle | |
Status: | Native to all Australian States, but not the Northern Territory. | |
Plant Description: | Erect or ascending, somewhat fleshy, perennial herb to 60 cm high with a creeping rhizome and often clump forming. Leaves are crowded (particularly lower leaves), hairless, often stalkless, elliptic to oblanceolate (backward spear-shaped), 5-20 cm long and 1.5-6 cm wide. Leaf edges are entire to sinuate-pinnatisect (wavy to deeply divided to the midrib) and toothed. Veins are often conspicuously paler than the rest of the leaf. Flower heads 1-2 cm diameter; solitary or in groups on stems from 1-10 cm long. The involucre (flower cup) bracts are about 20 mm long; the outer ones having a row of fleshy or scale-like spines near the base. Flowers are yellow throughout or sometimes with a pale purplish base and the ‘petals’ (each is actually a single flower) are 6-10 mm long. The fruit is a cypsela or achene (dry, indehiscent and one-seeded), 4-8 mm long, with a basal pappus (a ring of hairs above each seed), 7-13 mm long. | |
Habitat: | Common along the Victorian coastline, growing in sand dunes and on exposed cliffs. Has tolerance to salt-spray environments. | |
Comments: | Dune Thistle belongs to a group of mainly yellow-flowered daisies in the Tribe Lactuceae. The plants in this tribe are characterised by having a basal rosette of leaves (flat-weeds), milky sap in their stems and their flower-heads consisting entirely of ray florets (i.e. no ‘eye’ to the daisy). See Key to Yellow Daisy Flat-weeds. | |
Photos for Dune Thistle
 Leaves of Dune Thistle Photo: A J Brown |  Dune Thistle flower-bud Photo: A J Brown |
 Emerging flowers of Dune Thistle Photo: A J Brown |  Dune Thistle flowers Photo: A J Brown |
 Dune Thistle flowers Photo: A J Brown | |
© The State of Victoria, 1996 - 2012.
This document was last reviewed on 26/05/2011