About Actinotus forsythii Maiden & Betche
Actinotus forsythii Maiden & Betche is a wiry, herbaceous perennial plant with trailing stems that grow up to 50 cm long along the ground. Its leaves are divided into 3 to 7 parts, with leaf blades measuring 6.4–18 mm long and up to 10 mm wide, borne on petioles 4.5–20 mm long. It produces head-like umbels that are 7.5–20 mm in diameter when including the bracts, held on peduncles 3.8–10.3 cm long. Within each umbel, male flowers circle up to 60 female flowers. The umbel bracts are elliptic, measuring about 7 mm long and 1.5–2 mm wide; they are white to pink with silky hairs on their upper surface, and green and hairless below. Male flowers have small, blunt sepals and papery petals, and are around 0.3 mm long. Female flowers have tiny sepals that form a skirt at the top of the ovary, and have no petals. Flowering occurs from January to May. This species grows in damp areas of eucalypt forests and heaths, in shallow soils over sandstone.
