''Olearia stilwelliae'' 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 ...

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 ...

, Australia. It is a shrub with scattered elliptic or egg-shaped leaves, and pale blue, 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 stilwelliae'' is a shrub that typically grows to a height of up to . Its leaves are elliptic or egg-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long, the edges of the leaves sometimes toothed. The upper surface of the leaves is

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin ''glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

and the lower surface covered with felt-like hairs. The heads or daisy-like "flowers" are arranged singly in leaf axils on a peduncle up to long, and are in diameter. There are 8 to 12 usually white or pale blue 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 ...

, surrounding about 35 yellow disc florets, 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 ...

long. Flowering occurs from June to October 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 ...

, the pappus with 77 to 100 bristles.

Taxonomy

''Olearia stilwelliae'' was first formally described in 1925 by

William Blakely William Faris Blakely (November 1875 – 1 September 1941) was an Australian botanist and collector. From 1913 to 1940 he worked in the National Herbarium of New South Wales, working with Joseph Maiden on ''Eucalyptus'', Maiden named a ''red g ...

in the ''

Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales The Linnean Society of New South Wales promotes ''the Cultivation and Study of the Science of Natural History in all its Branches'' and was founded in Sydney, New South Wales ( Australia) in 1874 and incorporated in 1884. History The Society suc ...

'' from specimens collected at Nana Glen in 1998. 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 ...

(''stilwelliae'') honours "Miss Sylvia Stilwell who discovered the species wit
Mr. D. W. C. Shiress
.

Distribution and habitat

This olearia is grows in forest from north of Grafton to

Woolgoolga Woolgoolga is a town on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia. It is on the Pacific Highway (Australia), Pacific Highway, approximately 550 km north of Sydney and 365 km south of Brisbane. The closest city to Woolgoolga is ...

in north-eastern New South Wales.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15588462 stilwelliae Asterales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Plants described in 1925 Taxa named by William Blakely