Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Common name
None
Family
Asteraceae
Where found
Amongst granite boulders in low, open subalpine woodland and heath at about 1000–1330 m elevation. Namadgi National Park, ACT, and Tinderry Range east of the ACT.
Notes
Sticky shrub to about 1 m high with a curry-like odour. Branchlets with dense glandular hairs, unstalked glands and often some woolly or cobwebby hairs. Leaves alternating up the stems, forming clusters, 0.5–1.5 cm long, 0.2–1.2 mm wide (excluding the lobes), entire, but with at least the lowest leaf of some clusters with one or two pairs of oblong lobes, upper surface with stalkless glands, lower surface with woolly hairs and scattered stalkless glands,.margins curved to rolled down, not obscuring the lower surface, tips blunt. Flower heads 6–8 mm in diameter (excluding the 'petals'), with 12–20 'petals' each 5–8 mm long, pink, mauve or blue, very rarely white; and yellow or mauve centres. Flower heads stalkless to almost stalkless, single, occasionally in 2–3-flowered clusters, at the ends of the stems or of short lateral branches. Flowers Jan.–Apr.
All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.
Description in Messina, A. & Walsh, N.G. (2019), Reinstating Olearia stricta (Asteraceae) for an uncommon shrub from montane regions of SE Australia, and notes on O. ramulosa. Muelleria 37: 116 (photo page 114)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application:
