Olearia tomentosa


Olearia tomentosa, commonly known as the toothed daisy-bush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is a spreading shrub with egg-shaped leaves, the edges toothed or lobed, and blue or white and yellow, daisy-like inflorescences.

Description

Olearia tomentosa is a spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of up to about and has its branchlets densely covered with rust-coloured hairs. The leaves are arranged alternately along the stems, egg-shaped, long, wide on a petiole up to long. The edges of the leaves are toothed of lobed, the lower surface densely hairy. The heads or daisy-like "flowers" are arranged singly or in small groups on a peduncle up to long, each head in diameter with a bell-shaped involucre long at the base. Each head has 12 to 33 white or blue ray florets, the ligule long, surrounding 30 to 90 yellow disc florets. Flowering mainly occurs from September to December and the fruit is a ribbed achene about long, the pappus long.

Taxonomy

This daisy was described in 1798 by German botanist Johann Christoph Wendland who gave it the name Aster tomentosus. In 1836, Augustin Pyramus de Candolle changed the name to Olearia tomentosa. The specific epithet means "covered with matted hairs", referring to the underside of the leaves.
It is the type species of the genus, and was placed in the section Dicerotriche, yet genetically is sister to the section Asterotriche.

Distribution and habitat

Toothed daisy-bush is found south of the Hastings River and inland as far as the Blue Mountains, [New South Wales|Blue Mountains] in eastern New South Wales, and east of Mallacoota Inlet in the far east of Victoria. It grows on sandstone-based soils in dry sclerophyll forest and heath.

Ecology

Olearia tomentosa plants are generally killed by bushfire, though there are reports of plants regrowing from suckers after fire.

Use in horticulture

Not commonly seen in cultivation, O. tomentosa grows in soil with good drainage in a sunny or part-shaded location. Regular pruning prevents the plant from becoming leggy, and can rejuvenate older plants. The species is moderately frost-hardy.