''Olearia decurrens'', commonly known as the clammy daisy bush, is a species of flowering plant in the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to arid, inland Australia. It is a glabrous, sticky, twiggy shrub with narrow egg-shaped to linear leaves sometimes with toothed edges, and white and yellow, daisy-like

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

Description

''Olearia decurrens'' is a glabrous, sticky, twiggy shrub that typically grows to high and wide with many ribbed branches. The leaves are bright green and arranged alternately along the stems, egg-shaped or lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, to linear, long and wide, sometimes with toothed edges, and more or less

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

. The heads or daisy-like "flowers" are arranged in

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

s on the ends of branchlets and in diameter with a bell-shaped involucre long. There are three to six ray

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 ...

, the white, petal-like

ligule A ligule (from "strap", variant of ''lingula'', from ''lingua'' "tongue") is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf and leafstalk of many grasses (Poaceae) and sedges. A ligule is also a strap-shaped extension of the corolla, such as that of a ...

s long surrounding five to seven yellow disc florets. Flowering mainly occurs from February to May and the fruit is a silky-hairy

achene An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and indehiscent (they do not ope ...

about long, the pappus with 35 to 65 bristles in two rows.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1836 Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle who gave it the name ''Eurybia decurrens'' in the fifth volume of his ''

Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis ''Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis'' (1824–1873), also known by its standard botanical abbreviation ''Prodr. (DC.)'', is a 17-volume treatise on botany initiated by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle. De Candolle intended it as a summa ...

'', from material collected by Allan Cunningham in the vicinity of the Lachlan River. In 1867, George Bentham changed the name to ''Olearia decurrens'' in '' Flora Australiensis''. The species name ''decurrens'' means " decurrent" and refers to the leaf base running down the stem.

Distribution and habitat

''Olearia decurrens'' grows in

mallee scrub Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands is one of 32 Major Vegetation Groups defined by the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy. Description " Mallee" refers to the growth habit of a group of (mainly) eucalypt species that g ...

and forest in arid areas and is found across inland Australia, from

Dubbo Dubbo () is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and Gol ...

and

Brewarrina Brewarrina (pronounced 'bree-warren-ah'; locally known as "Bre") is a town in north-west New South Wales, Australia on the banks of the Barwon River in Brewarrina Shire. The name Brewarrina is derived from 'burru waranha', a Weilwan name for a s ...

in New South Wales, westwards across inland Victoria and South Australia and into Western Australia where it is found in the

Gascoyne The Gascoyne region is one of the nine administrative regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gasc ...

Gibson Desert The Gibson Desert is a large desert in Western Australia, largely in an almost "pristine" state. It is about in size, making it the fifth largest desert in Australia, after the Great Victoria, Great Sandy, Tanami and Simpson deserts. The ...

Great Victoria Desert The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia. History In 1875, British-born Australian explorer Ernest Giles became the first European to cross th ...

and Murchison biogeographic regions.

Use in horticulture

Seldom seen in cultivation, ''O. decurrens'' is drought- and frost-tolerant. It grows best in sunny or part-shaded locations with good drainage. Pruning prevents plants from becoming too spindly or leggy.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15587729 decurrens Asterales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Western Australia Flora of South Australia Flora of Victoria (Australia) Taxa named by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle Plants described in 1836