Billy ButtonsYellow Billybutton
The Yellow Billybutton (Calocephalus platycephalus) belong to the genus Calocephalus, which comes from the Greek kalos meaning beautiful and kephalus meaning heads. There are two native species of Calocephalus found growing in Central Australia and Northern Territory. The other is Calocephalus knappii.
The yellow ‘Billy buttons‘ are one of the popular flowering plants seen in the arid inland region of Australia, especially in Central Australia, together with the Poached Egg Daisy (Polycalymma stuartii).
C. platycephalus has the globular compound yellow flower with a flattened top, approximately 10 – 30 mm wide. It flowers mainly in spring. The stems and leaves are white-woolly, the leaves up to 3 cm long.
Common name
Billybuttons, Billy Buttons, Yellow Top, Western Beauty-heads, ‘Drumstick’ Flower.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Plantae
- Clade: Tracheophytes
- Clade: Angiosperms
- Clade: Eudicots
- Clade: Asterids
- Order: Asterales
- Family: Asteraceae
- Tribe: Gnaphalieae
- Genus: Calocephalus
- Species:
- Calocephalus platycephalus
- Calocephalus knappii
Footnote & References
- PlantNET, New South Wales Flora Online – Calocephalus platycephalus
- Australian Aridlands Botnic Garden – Soft billy buttons (Craspedia pleiocephala)
- Department of Land Resource Management – Plants (Herbarium) – Plant Species List
Billy ButtonsYellow Billybutton
FloraFlora in Australia Flora Index Acacia Anigozanthos (Kangaroo Paws) Annual Yellowtop Apium prostratum subsp. prostratum var filiforme Apple Bush (Pterocaulon sphacelatum) Australian Bluebell Australian Gossypium Banksia Batswing Coral Tree Billy Buttons Birdsville Indigo Blue Pincushion Bush Banana Callistemon Callitris drummondii (Drummond’s Cypress Pine) Calothamnus quadrifidus Cape Honeysuckle Cassia fistula (Golden Shower) Cattle Bush Common Heath Crotalaria Darwinia wittwerorum (Wittwer’s Mountain Bell) Daviesia oppositifolia (Rattle-pea) Desert Oaks Drumsticks Eremophila Eucalyptus Ficus Flannel Cudweed (Actinobole uliginosum) Georges Indigo Goatshead Burr (Sclerolaena bicornis) Golden Everlasting Goodenia Gossypium Grass and Grasses Grass Trees Grevillea Grey Germander Hakea Kapok Bush (Aerva javanica) Lambertia sp Leptospermum MacDonnell Ranges Cycad Maireana scleroptera Mexican Poppy Minnie Daisy Mistletoe Family Nardoo Native Apricot Nicotiana megalosiphon subspecies sessilifolia Nuytsia floribunda Orange Spade Flower Orchidaceae Parakeelyas (Calandrinia) Pebble Bush (Stylobasium spathulatum) Perennial Yellow Top Pink Everlasting Pink Rock Wort Poached Egg Daisy Portulaca Proteaceae Ptilotus Quandong Resurrection Fern Rosy Dock Ruby Saltbush Santalum Solanum Spike Centaury Spinifex Storkbill (Erodum cygnorum) Striped Mint Bush Sturt’s Desert Pea Sturt’s Desert Rose Tall Saltbush Tangled Leschenaultia Tar Vine Tribulus eichlerianus Upside-down Plant Urodon dasyphylla Variable Daisy Waratah (Telopea) Wertabona Daisy White Cedar (Melia azedarach) White Indigo White Paper Daisy Wild Passionfruit Wild Stock Woolly-Headed Burr Daisy Woolly Bush Yellow-keeled Swainsona
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