Olearia muelleri, commonly known as Mueller daisy bush,[2] Mueller's daisy bush[3] or Goldfields daisy,[4] is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae and is endemic to southern continental Australia. It is a compact or spreading shrub with scattered spatula-shaped to egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and white and yellow, daisy-like inflorescences.

Olearia muelleri
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Olearia
Species:
O. muelleri
Binomial name
Olearia muelleri
Synonyms[1]
  • Erybia muelleri Sond.
  • Aster muelleri (Sond.) F.Muell.
Habit on the Nullarbor Plain

Description

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Olearia muelleri is a compact or spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.4–1.5 m (1 ft 4 in – 4 ft 11 in) and has sticky branchlets and leaves. The leaves are arranged alternately, scattered along the branchlets, spatula-shaped to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 5–14 mm (0.20–0.55 in) long and 2–8 mm (0.079–0.315 in) wide sometimes with toothed or wavy edges. The heads or daisy-like "flowers" are arranged singly on the ends of branches and are more or less sessile or on a peduncle up to 10 mm (0.39 in) long. There is a bell-shaped involucre at the base with four to eight rows of sticky bracts. Each head has seven to thirteen white ray florets, the ligule 4–15 mm (0.16–0.59 in) long, surrounding twelve to eighteen yellow disc florets. Flowering occurs from August to October and the fruit is a silky-hairy achene, the pappus with forty to fifty bristles.[2][3][4]

Taxonomy

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Mueller daisy bush was first formally described in 1853 by Otto Wilhelm Sonder, who gave it the name Eurybia muelleri in Linnaea: ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange, oder Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde.[5][6] In 1867, George Bentham changed the name to Olearia muelleri in Flora Australiensis.[7][8] The specific epithet (muelleri) honours Ferdinand von Mueller.[9]

Distribution and habitat

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Olearia muelleri grows in mallee woodlands or spinifex communities and is widespread in the south-west of Western Australia, the south of South Australia, north-western Victoria and the far south-west of New South Wales.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Olearia muelleri". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Olearia muelleri". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  3. ^ a b Lander, Nicholas S. "Olearia muellerii". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  4. ^ a b "Olearia muelleri". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  5. ^ "Eurybia muelleri". APNI. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  6. ^ Sonder, Otto W. (1853). "Plantae Muellerianae. Beitrag zur Flora Sudaustraliens, aus den Sammlungen des Dr. Ferd. Muller". Linnaea: ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange, oder Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde. 25: 459–460. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  7. ^ "Olearia muelleri". APNI. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  8. ^ George Bentham (1867). "LXII. Compositae". Flora Australiensis. 3: 481. Wikidata Q104155624.
  9. ^ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 256. ISBN 9780958034180.
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