''Olearia lepidophylla'', commonly known as club-moss daisy-bush, is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

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 to southern Australia. It is a rigid, erect to spreading shrub with tiny oblong to egg-shaped leaves and white and yellow, daisy-like

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

Description

''Olearia lepidophylla'' is a rigid, erect to spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of up to and has twiggy branchlets covered with woolly white hairs. Its leaves are arranged alternately along the branchlets and clustered, oblong to egg-shaped, long, wide and more or less

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 ...

. The edges of the leaves are rolled under and the lower surface is covered with pale gey, woolly hairs. The heads or daisy-like "flowers" are arranged singly on the ends of branchlets and are in diameter and sessile. Each head has four to seven white 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 ...

, the

ligule A ligule (from "strap", variant of ''lingula'', from ''lingua'' "tongue") is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above g ...

long, surrounding four to six yellow disc florets. Flowering occurs from March to June and the fruit is a silky-hairy

achene An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple fruit, simple dry fruits, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and Dehi ...

, the pappus with 29 to 44 bristles.

Taxonomy

This olearia was first formally described in 1807 by

Christiaan Hendrik Persoon Christiaan Hendrik Persoon (31 December 1761 – 16 November 1836) was a Cape Colony mycologist who is recognized as one of the founders of mycology, mycological Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy. Early life Persoon was born in Cape Colony at ...

who gave it the name ''Aster lepidophyllus'' in his '' Synopsis Plantarum''. In 1867,

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

changed the name to ''Olearia lepidophylla'' in ''

Flora Australiensis ''Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian Territory'', more commonly referred to as ''Flora Australiensis'', and also known by its standard abbreviation ''Fl. Austral.'', is a seven-volume Flora of Australia published b ...

''. 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 ...

(''lepidophylla'') means "scale-leaved".

Distribution and habitat

''Olearia lepidophylla'' grows in mallee and heath and on coastal sand dunes in the

Esperance Plains Esperance Plains, also known as Eyre Botanical District, is a biogeography, biogeographic region in southern Western Australia on the South_coast_of_Western_Australia , south coast between the Avon Wheatbelt and Hampton bioregions, and bordere ...

Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia * Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria ** Hampton railway station, Melbour ...

and Mallee

bioregions A bioregion is a geographical area, on land or at sea, defined not by administrative boundaries, but by distinct characteristics such as plant and animal species, ecological systems, soils and landforms, human settlements, and topographic featur ...

of Western Australia, the south-east of South Australia, mainly in the far north-west of Victoria, the south-west of New South Wales and on the coast and a few inland areas of Tasmania.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15588420 lepidophylla Eudicots of Western Australia Flora of South Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Victoria (state) Flora of Tasmania Plants described in 1807 Taxa named by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon