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Everlasting
Golden Everlasting - Xerochrysum
bracteantha
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Ee
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Everlasting daisies get their name from an ability to keep their shape and colour for months, sometimes years, after they have been picked.
Unlike other flowers, which wilt and fall apart soon after they are picked, the everlasting flowers are dry and stiff from the time they are formed. This is because the things that look like petals are really not petals at all. They are structures called bracts which are more like coloured paper than soft petals. Some bracts, as in the Golden Everlasting, are so smooth that they shine like fresh paint.
Many of the everlasting daisies are adapted to life in the dry country where structures like the papery bracts,
which don't need any water, are useful for life where water is scarce. The Golden Everlasting, however, is a plant that can live in forests and woodlands where the rainfall is higher and more reliable.
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