''Olearia floribunda'', commonly known as heath daisy-bush, is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

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 south-eastern Australia. It is an upright, spreading shrub with egg-shaped leaves and white and yellow or mauve, 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 floribunda'' is a woody, upright spreading shrub high and thickly branched. The branches are smoothish to thickly covered in white, soft matted hairs without glands. The

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 ...

leaves edges are slightly turned up, thickly spaced or clustered, egg-shaped long and narrow about wide. The leaves are mostly smooth above and either sparingly or thickly covered in soft hairs below with a prominent mid-vein and rolled edges. The sessile, single white "daisy" flowers are at the end of branches in clusters on short lateral stems and in diameter. The over-lapping

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s are arranged rows of 3 or 4, lance-shaped and ending with a point or rounded at the apex. The white to pale-pink "petals" (strictly

ligules 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 ...

of the ray florets) are oblong shaped and long. The 2-8 disk florets are yellow or mauve. The dry one seeded fruit are needle shaped long and densely matted with short hairs. Flowers between July and February in the species' native range and intermittently during other months.

Taxonomy

Heath daisy bush was first formally described in 1847 by

Joseph Dalton Hooker Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911) was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For twenty years he served as director of t ...

who described it as ''Eurybia floribunda'' and published the description in the ''London Journal of Botany''. In 1867 George Bentham changed the name to ''Olearia floribunda'' and published the description in ''

Flora Australiensis ''Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian Territory'', more commonly referred to as ''Flora Australiensis'', and also known by its standard abbreviation ''Fl. Austral.'', is a seven-volume flora of Australia published be ...

''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''(floribunda)'' is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

words ''floridus'' meaning "full of flowers" and ''abundus'' meaning "copious" and "abound".

Distribution

The heath daisy-bush occurs in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in eucalypt woodland and around wetland areas south from

West Wyalong West Wyalong is the main town of the Bland Shire in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Located west of Sydney and above sea level, it is situated on the crossroads of the Newell Highway between Melbourne and Brisbane, and the ...

. In

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

grows in heath and shrubland mainly on sandy soils in coastal locations. This species is widespread in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in a range of habitats from southern locations and as far north as

Corryong Corryong is a small town in Victoria, Australia east of Albury-Wodonga, near the upper reaches of the Murray River and close to the New South Wales border. At the , Corryong had a population of 1,348. The post office opened on 1 February 18 ...

areas at lower to subalpine altitudes. It also grows in wet places in Tasmania.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13936193 Asterales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of South Australia Flora of Victoria (Australia) floribunda Plants described in 1847 Taxa named by Joseph Dalton Hooker