Draft:Argentipallium spiceri

Argentipallium X spiceri, commonly known as spicers everlasting, is an endemic subshrub of Tasmania, Australia. It is an extremely rare daisy only known from a few isolated plants in the Huon Valley south of the capital city, Hobart. Argentipallium X spiceri is possibly a hybrid between Argentipallium dealbatum and another related daisy of a different genus (likely Ozothamnus).

Description
Argentipallium X spiceri, is a fast growing natural hybrid daisy that grows as an open, erect shrub up to 1m high. It has slender branches which droop when the plant is in flower. The greyish-green small leaves have undersides that are densely covered in woolly hairs. The flower heads are composed of small oval flowers with prominent white bracts, that have distinct pinky-brown bases. It is characterised by its multiple-headed inflorescence (sometimes up to 25 heads), its open branching habit, and small white or pinkish flowers that only open on sunny days.

Taxonomy
Argentipallium X spiceri was first collected by Augustus Simson from "the roadside, going from Longley towards the Sandfly coal seam." It was recognised as an undescribed species of Helichrysum, and a brief mention of its existence was made as an addition in the Reverend William Spicer's Handbook of the Plants of Tasmania, published soon after the discovery in 1878. A portion of the material was sent to Ferdinand von Mueller in Melbourne who described it as Helichrysum spiceri. Subsequently, in 1903, Leonard Rodway considered it to be conspecific with H. obtusifolium. In 1963, Winifred Curtis reinstated it as a separate species. More recently, in 1992, as part of a revision of the genus Helichrysum in Australia, Paul Wilson transferred the taxon to the newly erected genus Argentipallium.

Distribution & Habitat
Argentipallium X spiceri has only been recorded 4 times in the wild, and only as individual plants. As it is considered a hybrid, this explains the rarity of the plant and the singular occurrences. The distribution of the species is naturally limited to the area between Longley and Huonville. The last record of the plant in the wild was in 2001 at Leslie Vale.

Locations of the four known occurrences: 1 - Longley (1876 & 1878), 2 - Huonville (1892), 3 - Cairns Bay (1958), 4 - Leslie Vale (2001)

The original site in 1876 & 1878 has been difficult to locate. Longley, Tasmania sits at approximately at 200m elevation and the geology around the site is typically sandstone and dolerite soils. Longley is surrounded by dry sclerophyll forest and woodlands dominated mainly by Eucalyptus obliqua and pulchella. Two samples were taken from the same plant 2 years apart. The 1892 collection cannot be precisely located. The stated locality, Huonville, is likely given as the closest township. It was noted that the sample was a "much branched straggling under-shrub", inferring a forest or woodland habitat. Huonville is located south of the capital Hobart and sits almost at sea level on intruded dolerite soils. The most recently discovered plant was located at the crest of a gentle, south-facing slope at Leslie Vale in 2001. It was on the edge of Eucalyptus obliqua forest, where it grades into drier Eucalyptus pulchella and Eucalyptus viminalis open forest or woodland. The understorey was open, with scattered Banksia marginata, Bedfordia salicina, Exocarpos cupressiformis, Leptospermum scoparium and Pultenaea juniperina and with clumps of Lomandra longifolia and Diplarrena moraea. The underlying rock is dolerite, with a shallow, clay, rocky, recently disturbed soil. The Leslie Vale locality sits at approximately 200-300m elevation.

Threats & Conservation
Argentipallium X spiceri is endemic to Tasmania and currently listed as endangered under The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC), and the Tasmanian Threatened Species Act 1995. The Threatened Species Scientific Committee (TSSC) judges the species to be eligible for listing as 'critically endangered' under the  EPBC Act 1999 due to it's limited geographic distribution, population size, likely decline of the species due to the viability of a single specimen, or small populations vulnerable to disturbance events.