Observations on a population of heath Wrinklewort 'Rutidosis Heterogama' Philipson 1937 (Magnoliopsida: Asteraceae) in Cooranbong, New South Wales

Abstract

The Heath Wrinklewort 'Rutidosis heterogama' is one of 9 Rutidosis spp. endemic to Australia (Atlas of Living Australia [ALA] 2023). This species is a small perennial herb with a ca- pitulum (flower head) (Fig. 1) of bright yellow, polygamous (mainly bisexual), monocarpous florets. Its distribution includes 3 disjunct locations: two in north-eastern New South Wales (NSW) and 1 in the Lower Hunter-Central Coast region of NSW. One of the north-east- ern locations is on the coast, with populations occurring between Wooli and Evans Head in Yuraygir and Bundjalung National Parks (NSW Office of Environment and Heritage [NSW OEH] 2017); the other site occurs on the New England Tablelands, with populations found from Torrington and Ashford south to Wands- worth, south-west of Glen Innes (NSW OEH 2017). On the Lower Hunter-Central Coast, the species occurs from Wyong to Newcastle (NSW OEH 2017). The 2 north-eastern populations are separated by about 150 km and each is separated from the Lower Hunter-Central Coast population by about 350 km. There are very few occurrences of 'R. heterogama' between these respective populations (ALA 2023). Most of the other 8 species of Rutidosis also have re- stricted distributions in eastern Australia, but Grey Wrinklewort 'R. helichrysoides' is widespread across Australia (ALA 2023), and Button Wrinklewort 'R. leptorhynchoides' is known from southern NSW, through eastern Victoria and into western Victoria (ALA 2023).