''Olearia arida'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to inland western Australia. It is upright shrub with spreading branches and clusters of white flowers.

Description

''Olearia arida'' is an upright shrub with a single woody stem or a spreading habit high covered densely with flattened short soft matted hairs. The

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 ...

leaves are long and narrow long and wide, broadening to a rounded apex. The upper-side of leaves are smooth and sticky, the under-side a woolly white with an obvious mid-vein with a rolled edge and glands. The cluster of 10-15 white flowers are on a short stem in leaf axils. The flower

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also lo ...

s are arranged in 3 rows, bell-shaped, smooth, pale, sticky, often purplish and broader at the apex and about long. The flower centre is yellow, blooms appear from July to September. The smooth, dry one-seeded needle-shaped fruit are about long with fine longitudinal lines.

Taxonomy and naming

''Olearia arida'' was described in 1918 by Ernst Pritzel and published in ''Repertorium Specierum Novarum Regni Vegetabilis''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''(arida)'' is derived from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word ''aridus'' meaning "dry".

Distribution and habitat

This species grows on sand hills in the Coolgardie,

Great Victoria Desert The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia. History In 1875, British-born Australian explore ...

and Murchison biogeographic regions of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, in the far north-west of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

and the far south-west of the Northern Territory.

Conservation status

This daisy is listed as " Priority Four" in Western Australia, by the Government of Western Australia

Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) is the Government of Western Australia, Western Australian government department responsible for managing lands and waters described in the ''Conservation and Land Management A ...

, meaning that it is rare or near threatened.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q15590697 Flora of Western Australia alpicola Flora of South Australia Flora of the Northern Territory Taxa named by Ernst Pritzel Plants described in 1918