Calocephalus francisii

Calocephalus francisii, commonly known as fine-leaf beauty-heads, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is a small annual with yellow globular-shape flowers and is endemic to Western Australia.

Description
Calocephalus francisii is an annual herb with some branches upright to downward, mostly smooth but hairy toward the flower heads. The leaves are arranged alternately, sessile, almost linear, lance-shaped or narrowly elliptic-shaped, 5.25 mm long, 0.5-3 mm wide, occasionally semi-succulent and smooth. The flower heads may vary in shape from globe, narrowly oblong to oval shaped, 5-27 mm long and 4-10 mm in diameter. The heads consist of 15-60 flowers, yellow or white translucent bracts in rows of 2 or 3, outer 4 or 5 bracts in a single row. The inner 5-9 bracts in one or two rows, corolla has thickened margins, 5 lobes, tube 1.6-2.3 mm long and 5 stamens. Flowering occurs from August to October and the fruit is dry, one-seeded, obovoid, 0.28-0.32 mm in diameter, pale or pinkish brown.

Taxonomy and naming
This species was first formally described in 1863 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Pachysurus francisii in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae. In 1867 George Bentham changed the name to Calocephalus francisii and the description was published in Flora Australiensis. The specific epithet (francisii) is in honour of George William Francis.

Distribution and habitat
Fine-leaf beauty-heads grows in sandy situations, outcrops, ridges and salt flats mostly on the west coast of Western Australia.