Bachelor’s Buttons (Cotula australis)

Bachelor’s Buttons (Cotula australis), a native Australian colonist of damp areas where rocks or other obstructions exclude taller-growing plants, and a weed of similar urban situations. In addition to being a lawn weed, it is also a frequent colonist of the damp bases of brick fences and building walls, and of kerb and pavement joints. Discernible by its naked disk florets and carrot-like foliage, this is an unusual aster that in its unpretentious modesty is everywhere in the metropolitan once you start looking for it.

As a wool alien, Cotula australis has also become a cosmopolitan global weed, one of the comparatively small number of Australian herbaceous plants to make that jump. An Australian success story! Also known as Brass Buttons, Buttonweed, etc.

Photos are from: 1-3, Carlton; 4-5, Northcote; 5-9, weed dominated ‘natural’ context in the Merri Creek riparian.

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Search for information about Cotula australis in the Flora of Victoria

View information and occurrences of Cotula australis on the Atlas of Living Australia

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