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Waitzia acuminata
Waitzia acuminata, commonly known as orange immortelle, is an annual forb in the family Asteraceae. It is native to Australia. Plants grow to between 10 and 60 cm in height and have leaves that are long and narrow. These are between 2 and 7 cm long and 2 to 5 mm in width. The yellow, orange or white flowers appear between July and January. Waitzia Acuminata occurs in all mainland states of Australia and is currently not considered rare or endangered. Its genus Waitzia is named after German botanist Karl Friedrich Waitz. Acuminata is a latin name describing things that are tapered to a point, named after the plants spindle like outer bracts.
The species was first formally described in 1845 by German botanist Joachim Steetz in Plantae Preissianae.
The species is most abundant in the southern half of Western Australia. It is also sparsely distributed amongst arid parts of the other mainland states. The plant is typically found in environments containing deep sandy red soils and in shallow stony soils (sandstone and granite) amongst mallee and mulgoa woodlands. The plant is also known to grow in saline depressions, sand, loam, gravel, litter, laterite, sand dunes, plains, and clay soils.
Due to its aesthetics Waitzia acuminata is used in as an ornamental garden plant across parts of Australia. For example, it is featured in the Kings Park Botanic Garden in Western Australia.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Waitzia acuminata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
