PtilotusCotton Bush (Ptilotus obovatus) Hairy Mulla Mulla (Ptilotus helipteroides) Large Green Pussytail (Ptilotus macrocephalus) Longtail (Ptilotus polystachyus) Red Pussytail (Ptilotus polystachyus) Shrubby Fox-tail (Ptilotus whitei) Tall Mulla Mulla (Ptilotus exaltatus)

The Large Green Pussytail (Ptilotus macrocephalus), sometimes known just as Green Pussytails or Featherheads, is a member of the Genus Ptilotus and has a large flower head (spike) with a yellow-greenish tinge.

The Large Green Pussytail are found growing in a variety of habitats including on rocky slopes, gravelly, clayey or stony plains, along roadsides and grey-brown swampy soils. The leaves are linear to narrowly lanceolate.

Thought to be distributed throughout most of mainland Australia, more current research confine Ptilotus macrocephalus to south-eastern South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. New studies have determined that arid central and western Australia have a distinct species named Ptilotus xerophilus.1,2


  • Scientific classification
  • Kingdom: Plantae
  • Clade: Tracheophytes
  • Clade: Angiosperms
  • Clade: Eudicots
  • Order: Caryophyllales
  • Family: Amaranthaceae
  • Genus: Ptilotus
  • Species: P. macrocephalus
  • Binomial name: Ptilotus macrocephalus
  • Species: P. xerophilus
  • Binomial name: Ptilotus xerophilus

Footnote & References

  1. Ptilotus macrocephalus, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptilotus_macrocephalus (accessed December 24, 2020).
  2. Hammer, Timothy; Davis, Robert; Thiele, Kevin (8 May 2019). “Of a different feather: two new species of featherheads from the Ptilotus macrocephalus (Amaranthaceae) complex”. Australian Systematic Botany. 32 (1): 61–70. doi:10.1071/SB18065.

PtilotusCotton Bush (Ptilotus obovatus) Hairy Mulla Mulla (Ptilotus helipteroides) Large Green Pussytail (Ptilotus macrocephalus) Longtail (Ptilotus polystachyus) Red Pussytail (Ptilotus polystachyus) Shrubby Fox-tail (Ptilotus whitei) Tall Mulla Mulla (Ptilotus exaltatus)

FloraFlora 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 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