Pleurophyllum hookeri. Silver-leaf daisy (Asteraceae)..Today at the seed bank we started cleaning up

Pleurophyllum hookeri. Silver-leaf daisy (Asteraceae)..Today at the seed bank we started cleaning up a lovely big collection of Pleurophyllum hookeri from Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean. ..Armed with my dust mask and sieves we made a small dent in the collection. Our task was to seperate the seed from the pappus. Which is the fluffy looking hairy stuff which is attached to the end of the seed. The pappus hang on to the seed and helps with wind dispersal. It’s also not the quickest or easiest thing to detach! Good thing I love plants right. 6 hours or so of sitting through this fluffy mess could potentially send one a bit mad…..The Silver-leaf daisy is one of the megaherbs which are native to subantarctic islands, like Macquarie. It has crimson button flowers and like the name suggests… long silver leaves. I’ve not actually seen the plant, just the seed. But hit up google to check it out! Unfortunately due to rats and rabbits the population on Macquarie Island is threatened. Good thing for the seed banks of the world keeping insurance populations for plants like this! ..I’m really enjoying cleaning seed at the seed bank. It might seem like a bit of a boring job but it’s really not! I’m helping with the conservation of the worlds flora, only in a minuscule way, but if we all do one minuscule thing to help then the miniscules will add up to megascules! And not to mention the folks I get to meet and talk to are just wonderful. I’m a bit of a question asker, and thankfully James who is the seed bank boss, is happy to answer my questions and share his insane plant knowledge. I’ve learnt a massive amount about all kinds of planty things already. ..#plants #flora #tasmanianflora #plantsoftasmania #wildflowers #tasmania #botany #flowersoftasmania #floraoftasmania#keeptassiewild #nature #wildflowers #australiannativeplants #planthunter #tasmania #tasmaniagram #tassielife #australia #botanical #floraoftas #islandlife#discovertasmania #amazingtasmania #rtbg200 #royaltasmanianbotanicalgardens #seedbank #seedconservation #conservation #tasmanianseedconservationcentre (at Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens (RTBG)) -- source link

More pics about