Strawflowers on the Window Sill 2
by Sarah Loft
Title
Strawflowers on the Window Sill 2
Artist
Sarah Loft
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Per Wikipedia: Xerochrysum bracteatum, commonly known as the golden everlasting or strawflower, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to Australia. Described by Étienne Pierre Ventenat in 1803, it was known as Helichrysum bracteatum for many years before being transferred to a new genus Xerochrysum in 1990. It grows as a woody or herbaceous perennial or annual shrub up to a metre (3 ft) tall with green or grey leafy foliage. Golden yellow or white flower heads are produced from spring to autumn; their distinctive feature is the papery bracts that resemble petals. The species is widespread, growing in a variety of habitats across the country, from rainforest margins to deserts and subalpine areas.
French botanist Étienne Pierre Ventenat described the golden everlasting as Xeranthemum bracteatum in his 1803 work Jardin de Malmaison, a book commissioned by Napoleon's first wife Joséphine de Beauharnais to catalogue rare plants that she had collected and grown at the Château de Malmaison. The Latin species name bracteatum refers to the papery bracts (often mistakenly called petals) of the flower heads. Henry Charles Andrews transferred it to the genus Helichrysum based on the morphology of its receptacle in 1805, and it was known as Helichrysum bracteatum for many years. Leo Henckel von Donnersmarck described it as Helichrysum lucidum in 1806, and Christiaan Hendrik Persoon as Helichrysum chrysanthum in 1807. It was given the name Bracteantha bracteata in 1991, when Arne Anderberg and Laurie Haegi placed the members that are known as strawflowers of the large genus Helichrysum into a new genus Bracteantha, and designated B. bracteata as the type species. However, they were unaware that Russian botanist Nikolai Tzvelev had already placed X. bracteatum in the new, and at the time monotypic, genus Xerochrysum the previous year. This name was derived from the Greek words xeros "dry", and chrysum "golden", likely relating to the nature of the distinctive bracts. Confusion existed for a decade, with Bracteantha appearing in literature and the horticultural trade until it was clarified in 2002 that the latter name took precedence. Strawflower is the popular name for X. bracteatum in Europe, while in Australia it is known as an everlasting or paper daisy. An alternate name in 19th-century Europe was immortelle.
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Featured in the Photography and Nature 101 group, August 2017.
Uploaded
August 5th, 2017
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