Button Wrinklewort (Rutidosis leptorhynchoides)
Description
- The Button Wrinklewort is a perennial forb, a type of herbaceous flowering plant.
- It grows flowering stems around 20-35 cm tall in spring and summer. Its rounded flowers grow to 8-15 mm wide.
- Each flower head has many small flowers surrounded by rows of greenish leaves called bracts.
- The flowers die back in late summer and autumn, and new leaves appear at the base of the plant in early winter.
Find out more about the Button Wrinklewort on Canberra NatureMapr.
Where to find them
The species is found in Natural Temperate Grassland, Secondary Grassland and at the edges of Yellow Box/Red Gum Grassy Woodlands with native grasses and other small plants. It prefers open areas with shallow, stony, red-brown clay loams.
It can be found at sites including:
- south of Lake Burley Griffin
- Majura and Jerrabomberra valleys
- Crace Nature Reserve.
This species can also be found in NSW and Victoria.
Conservation threats
The Button Wrinklewort population threats include:
- habitat changes due to grazing and urban development
- competition from eucalypt and shrub regeneration
- weed invasion
- human activity such as roadside maintenance, waste dumping, inappropriate mowing and vehicle parking
- reduced genetic diversity and lower fertilisation can impact smaller populations
- climate change, especially frequent droughts and intense fires.
Conservation status
- National – Endangered (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999).
- Australian Capital Territory – Endangered (Nature Conservation Act 2014).
Conservation actions
There have been some attempts to grow new populations of Button Wrinklewort in the ACT. Only one has been successful. Conservation aims to:
- help land managers to maintain the sites for the best conditions for the species
- protect larger and medium-sized populations
- assist smaller populations to increase their size to 200 or more plants
- manage plants and their habitats so they maintain potential for evolutionary development in the wild
- use controlled burns to open the sites
- clear weeds and competition from the habitats
- maintain nearby areas so the species can increase their habitat area
- survey, monitor and research the species
- collaborate with other organisations and the community to raise awareness and work towards conservation together.