Podolepis lessonii

Podolepis lessonii is an erect annual herb native to Western Australia, belonging to the Asteraceae family.^[4]

Podolepis lessonii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Genus:	Podolepis
Species:	P. lessonii
Binomial name
Podolepis lessonii (Cass.) Benth.[1][2]
Synonyms[3]
Panaetia lessonii Cass. Podolepis gilbertii Turcz. Scalia lessonii (Cass.) Kuntze

Taxonomy

The species was first described in 1829 as Panaetia lessonii by the French botanist, Henri Cassini.^[1][5] The species epithet, lessonii, honours Monsieur Lesson who collected a specimen from King George Sound in 1826.^[5] The species was assigned to the genus, Podolepis, in 1867 by George Bentham.^[1][2] The name currently accepted by the Western Australian Herbarium is Panaetia lessonii Cass., because of the studies of Jeffrey Jeanes,^[6][7] who distinguished Panaetia from the genera, Podolepis, Siemssenia and Walshia, using the following characters:

1. the outer florets are all tubular; and
2. the cypselas are minutely tuberculate and lack long finger-like papillae.^[7]

Distribution and habitat

It is found widely in Beard's South-West and Eremaean provinces, in many different habitats and soils.^[7]