Olearia algida
{{Short description|Species of shrub}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Speciesbox
|name = Alpine daisy-bush
|image = Olearia algida.jpg
|image_caption = Olearia algida on Mount Baw Baw
|genus = Olearia
|species = algida
|authority = N.A.Wakef.{{cite web|title=Olearia algida|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/103350|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=14 February 2022}}
}}
Olearia algida, the alpine daisy-bush{{cite web
|url=http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Olearia~algida= |title=Olearia algida |access-date=2010-01-01 |work= PlantNET - New South Wales Flora Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust, Sydney Australia}} is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a shrub with small, crowded, elliptic to narrow egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base and heads of white and cream-coloured, daisy-like flowers.
Description
Olearia algida is a bushy shrub that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|0.7–1|m}} and has cottony-hairy young branchlets. The leaves are arranged alternately and crowded, elliptic to narrow egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, {{cvt|1–3|mm}} long and {{cvt|0.5–1|mm}} wide with the edges rolled under, the upper surface glabrous but the lower surface woolly-hairy. The daisy-like capitula are arranged singly on the ends of short side-branches and are {{cvt|7–12|mm}} in diameter. There are two to six white petal-like ray florets with ligules {{cvt|2.5–5.5|mm}} long, surrounding two to six yellow disc florets. Flowering mainly occurs from October to February and the cypselae are about {{cvt|1.5|mm}} long with bristles about {{cvt|3|mm}} long.{{cite web |last1=Walsh |first1=Neville G. |last2=Lander |first2=Nicholas S. |title=Olearia algida |url=https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/402b4f80-40c7-4899-8235-4a48ebd1c266 |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria |access-date=14 February 2022}}{{cite book|author1=Corrick, M.G. |author2=Fuhrer, B.A. |name-list-style=amp | title=Wildflowers of Victoria and adjoining areas| publisher=Bloomings Books|location= Australia | year=2001 | isbn=1876473142}}{{cite web |last1=Wood |first1=Betty |title=Olearia algida |url=https://apps.lucidcentral.org/plants_se_nsw/text/entities/olearia_algida.htm |publisher=Lucid Keys |access-date=14 February 2022}}
Taxonomy
Olearia algida was first formally described in 1956 by Norman Arthur Wakefield in The Victorian Naturalist from specimens collected by [https://www.anbg.gov.au/biography/tadgell-alfred.html A.J. Tadgell] on Mount Bogong in 1922.{{cite web|title=Olearia algida|url= http://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/531859 |publisher=APNI|access-date=14 February 2022}}{{cite journal |last1=Wakefield |first1=Norman A. |title=Flora of Victoria: New species and other additions - 10 |journal=The Victorian Naturalist |date=1956 |volume=73 |issue=6 |page=97 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/127327#page/99/mode/1up |access-date=14 February 2022}} The specific epithet (algida) is a Latin word meaning "cold".{{cite book |author=William T. Stearn |title=Botanical Latin. History, grammar, syntax, terminology and vocabulary |date=1992 |publisher=Timber Press |location=Portland, Oregon |edition=4th|page=366}}
Distribution and habitat
Alpine daisy-bush grows in heath, shrubland and grassland near swampy places in alpine and subalpine areas south from Mount Gingera in the Australian Capital Territory, through southern New South Wales to eastern Victoria and Tasmania.{{cite web |last1=Jordan |first1=Greg |title=Olearia algida |url=https://www.utas.edu.au/dicotkey/dicotkey/AST/ast/sOlearia_algida.htm |publisher=University of Tasmania |access-date=14 February 2022}} It is also cultivated in New Zealand.{{Cite web |title=Olearia algida N.A.Wakef. - Biota of NZ |url=https://biotanz.landcareresearch.co.nz/scientific-names/c79c868f-eb7b-48b1-b91a-7cef6792bf0b |access-date=2023-10-05 |website=biotanz.landcareresearch.co.nz}}