Olearia elliptica
Olearia elliptica, commonly known as the sticky daisy bush, is a shrub in the family Asteraceae and is native to New South Wales and Queensland in eastern Australia. It has scattered, sticky leaves and white flowers in summer and autumn.
Description
Olearia elliptica is a shrub that typically grows to a height of and has scattered, curved, elliptic leaves long, wide on a petiole up to long. The upper surface of the leaves is sticky and the lower surface is a paler green. The heads or daisy-like "flowers" are arranged in loose groups on the ends of branches on a peduncle up to long and are wide. Each head has 8 to 23 white ray florets surrounding 8 to 30 yellow disc florets. Flowering occurs between November and May and the fruit are bristly achenes.Taxonomy and naming
Olearia elliptica was first formally described in 1836 by Augustin Pyramus [de Candolle] who published the description in his 17-volume treatise, Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis. The specific epithet is a Latin word meaning "a defective circle" or "an ellipse".In 1993, Peter Shaw Green described two subspecies of O. elliptica that have been accepted by the Australian Plant Census:
- Olearia elliptica subsp. elliptica has more heads of flowers in the corymb and occurs in continental New South Wales and Queensland;
- Olearia elliptica subsp. praetermissa is a smaller plant with between 8 and 15 flowers in the corymb and is endemic to Lord Howe Island. The epithet praetermissa is a Latin word meaning "overlooked", referring to the distinctness of this subspecies having only been recognised recently.
Distribution and habitat