''Olearia frostii'', commonly known as Bogong 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 Victoria in Australia. It is a low, often straggling shrub with egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and mauve to pink 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 frostii'' is a greyish, often straggling shrub that typically grows to a height of up to , its branchlets densely covered with star-shaped hairs. Its leaves are arranged alternately along the branchlets, 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 ...

, narrowly egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide. The upper surface of the leaves is covered with greyish, star-shaped hairs and the lower surface densely covered with woolly, star-shaped hairs. The heads or daisy-like "flowers" are arranged singly on the ends of a few branches, and are in diameter on a

peduncle Peduncle may refer to: *Peduncle (botany), a stalk supporting an inflorescence, which is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed *Peduncle (anatomy), a stem, through which a mass of tissue is attached to a body **Peduncle (art ...

mostly long with three to five rows of

bracts 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 ...

at the base. Each head has 30 to 80 mauve to pink 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

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 40 to 100 yellow disc florets. Flowering occurs from January to March and the fruit is a glabrous

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 ...

, the pappus long.

Taxonomy

Bogong daisy-bush was first formally described in 1889 by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

who gave it the name ''Aster frostii'' in ''

The Victorian Naturalist ''The Victorian Naturalist'' is a bimonthly scientific journal covering natural history, especially of Australia. It is published by the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria and is received as part of the membership subscription of that club. From ...

'' from specimens collect on " Mount Hotham, at an elevation of about ". In 1956, James Hamlyn Willis changed the name to ''Olearia frostii'' in the journal '' Muelleria''.

Distribution and habitat

''Olearia frostii'' grows in heath, grassland and woodland on the Bogong High Plains and nearby peaks in north-eastern Victoria.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15587916 frostii Flora of Victoria (Australia) Plants described in 1889 Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller