Leptorhynchos squamatus

Scaly Buttons

Price Seeds Per Gram Amount Available Provenance
$5.00 / gram 3,500 currently unavailable Denver

General Description: A slender, perennial, low growing plant with bright yellow button flowers held above the fine foliage, to 30 cm tall.

Flowers and Fruit: Single yellow flower heads to 10mm wide from September to April. Fruit consists of small seeds with feathery bristles that allow them to float in the wind.

Site Preference and Tolerances: Prefers well drained situations but accepts some moisture. Found in grassland, woodland and light forest and is often plentiful after fire or soil disturbance.

Life Span: Perennial herb or sub-shrub

Wildlife Value: Good butterfly food plant, used by Australian Painted Lady butterfly. Insects and ants are known to eat seeds and flowers are pollinated by insects.

Other Values and Uses: Suits massed planting, understory or rockery planting and makes a lovely border. The long flowering time makes them useful as container specimens. The yellow flower heads are held singly above the foliage on long stems and may be used, cut or dried for decoration. 

Germination Information: Usually grows well in a few weeks without any treatment but germination increases with light so it is good to surface sow or only cover lightly with soil.