Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Calomeria amaranthoides
Common name
Incense Plant, Plume Bush
Family
Asteraceae
Where found
Forest, disturbed sites, roadsides, and along river flats. Coast, ranges, and the eastern edge of the tablelands. No recent records in the Wollongong and Sydney areas.
Notes
Biennial herb, to 3 m high. Main stem more or less white-woolly, branchlets with dense glandular hairs, with or without cottony hairs. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, alternating up the stem, 10–30 cm long, 20–100 mm wide, both surfaces hairy with glandular hairs, lower surface more or less woolly, upper surface more or less woolly only on the lower part of the midrib, margins frequently more or less scalloped, tips gradually tapering to a point. Flower heads with 2-4 florets, 6–8 mm long, 1.5–2.5 mm wide, with 0 petals. 12–17 bracts surrounding each flower head, pale brown more or less tinged with orange or pink to rose-pink or red, occasionally almost colourless. Flower clusters of 200–500 flower heads, usually 35–60 cm long, the branches weeping. Flowering: summer–autumn.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Calomeria~amaranthoides (accessed 7 January, 2021)
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