"Chrysums" and other yellow daisies

There are many native plants in Australia which used to belong to the family Compositae but are now classified to Asteraceae.  Or perhaps they are still classified to Compositae - Wikipedia seems to alternate _ and trying to sort that out is probably worth several PhDs and a couple of books.  The main thing is that there are a lot of them in this area, many of which have pretty yellow and/or white flowers.  Here are a few of them which demonstrate the diversity possible, even within a fairly tightly defined group.

The archetypal plant in this group is 'the' everlasting daisy which I think is the name best applied to what is now called Leucochrysum albicans.  That does of course understate the use of italics since the local version - declared endangered but carpeting the area in this gloriously rainy year - is actually Leucochrysum albicans albicans tricolor.  The common name of Hoary Sunray does have the advantage of using less ink!

I particularly like this image as it shows white and yellow petals and the pink bracts covering the buds.  the next image shows how some of the flowers are white while others are yellow. Generally they are found in different clumps but an area close home has a mixed crop.

The final image of this species (or rather variety) is included to show a verge covered with them.  I would have, in past years, rated this as a large clump but in 2010 it only rates a 'modest'!

One of the more outstanding - in the sense of being tall and standing out -  members of the group is Xerochrysum viscosum, the Sticky Everlasting.   The 'Xero' component of the scientific name implies 'dry' and these certainly do well as dried - or everlasting flowers.  In fact surprisingly all parts of the latin are sensible with chrysum meaning yellow (true) and viscosum representing sticky (also true).

A litle shorter and with greyer foliage is Coronidium scorpiodes.  This means 'Little crown" and "scorpion like": the latter referring to the curved stems resembling a scorpions tail (que? I think whoever put that name on had never seen a scorpion).  The generic name used to be Helichrysum or yellow sun but taxonomists have to have things to do.

Another larger plant within the group is the Yam daisy, Microseris lanceolata.   I have no idea what the Latin means, but presumably the Yam element refers to the tap root which was edible (ie it will serve as food if you are too far from a burger stand).  The two images show a flower and (what I am fairly sure is) a seed head of this species, which I think is fairly spiffy.

The next few images are simply illustrations of variability.  The first is Chrysocephalum apiculatum

Next is a Craspedia ...

 ... and finally  Leptorhyncus