Cassinia tenuifolia

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 surrounded by four whorls 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.