''Cassinia tenuifolia'', commonly known as bully bush or killmoke, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae and is endemic to Lord Howe Island. It is a dense, bushy shrub with hairy young stems, crowded linear leaves and sweetly scented flower heads arranged in corymbs.

Description

''Cassinia tenuifolia'' is a dense, bushy shrub that typically grows to a height of up to with its young stems densely covered with felt-like hairs. The leaves are more or less crowded, linear, long and wide on a petiole long. The upper surface of the leaves is glabrous, the edges are rolled downwards and the lower surface is densely cottony-hairy. The flower heads are wide with cream-coloured

florets This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

surrounded by four

whorls A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). Whorls in nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral d ...

of involucral bracts. The heads are crowded in corymbs on the ends of branchlets. Flowering occurs from mid-January to April and the achenes are about long with a white pappus about long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Cassinia tenuifolia'' was first formally described in 1867 by George Bentham in '' Flora Australiensis''.

Distribution

''Cassinia tenuifolia'' is endemic to Lord Howe Island where it is widespread and common, especially near the coast and is sometimes considered a weed in pasture.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5049445 tenuifolia Asterales of Australia Endemic flora of Lord Howe Island Taxa named by George Bentham Plants described in 1867