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Pterygopappus is a genus of flowering plants in the tribe Gnaphalieae within the family Asteraceae. There is only one known species, Pterygopappus lawrencii (sage cushion plant), which is endemic to alpine Tasmania. It forms thick, light blue/green mats with densely packed leaves. It is most common in the mountains of the northeastern part of the island. It is a slow grower and prefers cool, moist environments.
Pterygopappus lawrencii is found in montane heathlands, alpine vegetation areas and wet screes. It is distributed mostly across the east of Tasmania especially in the Central Plateau areas of Mount Field National Park and Cradle Mountain National Park. The habitat of the species displays the hardiness of the plant. It is ideally found in areas with a thin and peaty soil, the product of heavily eroded dolerite and siliceous bedrock, where most of the soil has been removed by glacial processes. It is also constantly exposed to high winds, snow and low temperatures It is unusual to find an area of P. lawrencii growing as a monoculture as they most often occur within a mosaic of other cushion plant species such as Donatia novae-zelandiae, Dracophyllum minimum, Abrotanella forsteroides and Schizacme archeri. This ability to grow extremely close and integrate with other cushion plant species is part of the reason for their success in these trying conditions.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pterygopappus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
