Olearia humilis explained

Olearia humilis is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, spindly shrub with narrowly egg-shaped or linear leaves, and purple and yellow, daisy-like inflorescences.

Description

Olearia humilis is an erect, spindly shrub that typically grows to a height of . Its stems and leaves are covered with scattered thread-like and glandular hairs. The leaves are arranged alternately along the branchlets, narrowly egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base or linear and often curved, long, wide and sessile. The heads or daisy-like "flowers" are arranged singly on the ends of branchlets and are in diameter on a peduncle up to long. Each head has twenty to thirty purple or bluish-purple ray florets, the ligule long, surrounding a similar number of yellow disc florets. Flowering occurs from July to November and the fruit is a flattened, light brown achene, the pappus with 21 to 33 bristles.[1]

Taxonomy

Olearia humilis was first formally described in 1989 by Nicholas Sèan Lander in the journal Nuytsia from specimens collected by Philip Sydney Short, near the Sandstone-Paynes Find road in 1986.[2] The specific epithet (humilis) means "low" or "small", referring to the statue of this species.[3]

Distribution and habitat

Olearia humilis grows in shrubland and woodland in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Great Victoria Desert, Murchison and Yalgoo biogeographic regions of south-western Western Australia.

Conservation status

This daisy bush is listed as "not threatened" by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.

Notes and References

  1. Lander . Nicholas S. . Taxonomy of Olearia stuartii (Asteraceae:Astereae) and allied species. . Nuytsia . 1990 . 7 . 1 . 26–28 . 27 April 2022.
  2. Web site: Olearia humilis . APNI . 27 April 2022.
  3. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 220 . 3rd.