Actinotus bellidioides

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Actinotus bellidioides, the tiny flannel-flower, is a small perennial herb that forms a rosette and is native only to Tasmania, Australia. It used to occur on the Australian mainland but is now believed extinct there and survives only in Tasmania.

Description
Plants are about 3 cm wide. Leaves form a basal rosette, about 0.3–1 cm long, and range from spoon-shaped to round. They can be softly hairy or smooth and have rounded tips with a short stalk.

Flowers
From November to January, a single upright stalk up to about 3 cm tall bears a tight cluster of 6–10 flowers at the tip. The cluster is surrounded by 6–10 small bracts fused at the base into a cup about 6 mm wide. Inner flowers are bisexual; outer flowers are usually male or sterile. Tiny green sepals may accompany petals or appear on their own. The fruit is a tiny, flat schizocarp about 0.2 mm long.

Habitat and ecology
Actinotus bellidioides grows from sea level to 1200 m in moorlands, sedgelands, scrublands, and other waterlogged, peaty habitats in western and southern Tasmania. Soils are nutrient-poor and often acidic, with rainfall supplying most nutrients. The plant competes with other shrubs and grasses in these habitats and tolerates constant wet conditions, frost, and acidity. In subalpine and alpine areas, many Tasmanian wet-soil plants are perennials because the maritime climate keeps temperatures mild and the poor soils slow growth, helping plants endure winter.

Notes on the genus
Actinotus contains twenty species—nineteen in Australia and one in New Zealand. It is distinctive in the Apiaceae (celery family) for its tight flower heads with showy, woolly bracts that give a daisy-like appearance, rather than the classic umbrella-like form. Many Actinotus species have downy, “flannel” hairs on leaves and bracts; Actinotus bellidioides is the only Tasmanian member known for this feature.