''Olearia pimeleoides'', commonly known as pimelea daisy-bush, is a species of flowering plant in the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found els ...

to southern continental Australia. It is an erect shrub with elliptic, linear or lance-shaped leaves, and white and pale yellow, daisy-like

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed ...

Description

''Olearia pimeleoides'' is a shrub that typically grows to a height of up to about , its branchlets densely white woolly-hairy. The leaves are arranged alternately along the branches, elliptic, linear or lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 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 lower surface of the leaves is densely covered with white, woolly hairs. The heads or daisy-like "flowers" are usually arranged singly on the ends of branches and are sessile, in diameter with a conical to hemispherical

involucre In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or o ...

at the base. Each head has 8 to 25 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 o ...

, the

ligule A ligule (from "strap", variant of ''lingula'', from ''lingua'' "tongue") is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf and leafstalk of many Poaceae, grasses (Poaceae) and Cyperaceae, sedges. A ligule is also a strap-shaped extension of the corolla ...

long, surrounding 14 to 15 pale yellow disc florets. Flowering occurs from August to October and the fruit is an

achene An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and indehiscent (they do not op ...

long, the pappus long.

Taxonomy

This daisy was first formally described in 1836 by

Augustin Pyramus de Candolle Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (, , ; 4 February 17789 September 1841) was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candolle ...

who gave it the name ''Eurybia pimeleoides'' in his ''

Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis ''Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis'' (1824–1873), also known by its standard botanical abbreviation ''Prodr. (DC.)'', is a 17-volume treatise on botany initiated by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle. De Candolle intended it as a summa ...

''. 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 studi ...

changed the name to ''Olearia pimeleoides'' 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, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''pimeleoides'') means "''

Pimelea ''Pimelea'', commonly known as rice flowers, is a genus of plants belonging to the Family (biology), family Thymelaeaceae. There are about 150 species, including 110 in Australia and thirty six in New Zealand. Description Plants in the genus ...

''-like".

Distribution and habitat

Pimelea daisy-bush is widespread and common in southern Australia, where it grows in mallee woodlands and shrublands, and in forest. It is widespread in the south-west of Western Australia, the south-east of South Australia, north-western Victoria and on the western plains of New South Wales.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7086007 pimeleoides Asterales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of South Australia Flora of Queensland Eudicots of Western Australia Flora of Victoria (Australia) Plants described in 1836 Taxa named by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle