Brachyscome multifida D C.

Annual herb to 45 cm tall, glabrous. Stems ascending, branched. Leaves along stems, to 7 cm long, once or twice divided, with linear to oblanceolate segments, sessile. Capitula to 2.5 cm across, solitary on long stalks; autumn to winter. Ray florets white, pink or mauve. Achenes slightly compressed, without wings, faces warty, each wart surmounted by a minute forked hair. Pappus a ring of minute bristles.

Qld, NSW, Vic

var. dilatata Benth. Lobes of leaves oblanceolate to cuneate.

var. multifida Lobes of leaves narrow-linear to subulate.

Hybrids between B. multifida and B. curvicarpa G.L.R. Davis and B. rigidula are available in horticulture.

Other cultivars listed include: B. 'Alba' with white flowers, c. 1980, and B. 'Lemon Drops', c. 1992.

Source: Jeanes, J. (2002). Asteraceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.

Distribution map

Brachyscome multifida 'Amethyst'

Foliage finely divided on non-suckering stems 10-30 cm tall. Flower heads 1.5-2 cm wide, amethyst-violet with green centres, on stems that are often dark red.

Arose in the garden of Peg McAllister, Vic.

Brachyscome multifida 'Breakoday'

Flowers with deep mauve heads 2-3 cm wide and with green centres at first, prolific from spring to autumn. Spreads from the base very rapidly.

A chance seedling from Peg McAllister's garden in the 1980s.

Brachyscome multifida 'Bright Eyes'

A cushion 10-15 cm tall with deep mauve flower heads 1-1.5 cm wide; year round. ['Blue Eyes']

May have originated several times, once in Peg McAllister's garden as a chance seedling.

kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Magnoliopsida
superorder     Asteranae
order      Asterales
family       Asteraceae
genus        Brachyscome Cass.