About Olearia minor (Benth.) Lander
Olearia minor (Benth.) Lander is a small shrub that grows up to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) tall. Its branchlets and the undersides of its leaves are thickly covered with whitish, cottony hairs. The leaves of this shrub are elliptic or egg-shaped, measuring 1.5–8 mm (0.059–0.315 in) long and 1–2.5 mm (0.039–0.098 in) wide. They are arranged alternately along branches, have rounded or broadly pointed tips, and are green on the upper surface; young upper leaf surfaces occasionally have a cobweb-like appearance, and may be smooth or rough with short hairs. Flower heads are densely clustered, measure 12–22 mm (0.47–0.87 in) across, and are borne at the ends of branches, either with or without a stalk. Each flower head has 7 to 12 white to pale mauve petal-like ligules 5.5–11 mm (0.22–0.43 in) long, and a central flower disc that is yellow or mauve. It has 4 to 5 conical-shaped bracts, 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long, arranged in rows. The bracts are smooth near the base, and densely or sparingly covered with short, soft hairs near their rounded or pointed apex. The dry, single-seeded fruits are narrowly oval, about 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) long, slightly ribbed, and either smooth or covered with dense, silky, flattened hairs. Flowering occurs from June to December. This species grows in mallee or open scrubland on loam, yellow brown sand, or rocky slopes, and occurs mostly around the Balranald district, Dubbo, and the Budawang Range in New South Wales. In Victoria, it has a scattered distribution, growing on loamy soils with mallee in the north-west from near Bambill to near the Little Desert, and in dry forest in the northern Brisbane Ranges and Werribee Gorge. In South Australia, this daisy-bush is widely distributed across the south of the state, including on Kangaroo Island. In Western Australia, it grows in sandstone, limestone, sand dunes, or on rocky slopes within mallee or scrubland near Coolgardie, Esperance, and the wheatbelt.
