Olearia humilis
{{Short description|Species of shrub}}
{{Speciesbox
|image = Olearia humilis.jpg
|image_caption = Near Mullewa
|genus = Olearia
|species = humilis
|authority = Lander{{cite web|title=Olearia humilis|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/104793|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=27 April 2019}}
|synonyms_ref =
|synonyms =
}}
Olearia humilis is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, spindly shrub with narrowly egg-shaped or linear leaves, and purple and yellow, daisy-like inflorescences.
Description
Olearia humilis is an erect, spindly shrub that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|0.4–1|m}}. Its stems and leaves are covered with scattered thread-like and glandular hairs. The leaves are arranged alternately along the branchlets, narrowly egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base or linear and often curved, {{cvt|20–30|mm}} long, {{cvt|1–3|mm}} wide and sessile. The heads or daisy-like "flowers" are arranged singly on the ends of branchlets and are {{cvt|15–30|mm}} in diameter on a peduncle up to {{cvt|40|mm}} long. Each head has twenty to thirty purple or bluish-purple ray florets, the ligule {{cvt|9.6–14.2|mm}} long, surrounding a similar number of yellow disc florets. Flowering occurs from July to November and the fruit is a flattened, light brown achene, the pappus with 21 to 33 bristles.{{cite journal |last1=Lander |first1=Nicholas S. |title=Taxonomy of Olearia stuartii (Asteraceae:Astereae) and allied species. |journal=Nuytsia |date=1990 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=26–28 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/232338#page/32/mode/1up |access-date=27 April 2022}}{{FloraBase|name=Olearia humilis |id=12734}}
Taxonomy
Olearia humilis was first formally described in 1989 by Nicholas Sèan Lander in the journal Nuytsia from specimens collected by Philip Sydney Short, near the Sandstone-Paynes Find road in 1986.{{cite web |title=Olearia humilis |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/name/apni/533956/api/apni-format |website=APNI |accessdate=27 April 2022}} The specific epithet (humilis) means "low" or "small", referring to the statue of this species.{{cite book |last1=Sharr |first1=Francis Aubi |last2=George |first2=Alex |title=Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings |date=2019 |publisher=Four Gables Press |location=Kardinya, WA |isbn=9780958034180 |page=220 |edition=3rd}}
Distribution and habitat
Olearia humilis grows in shrubland and woodland in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Great Victoria Desert, Murchison and Yalgoo biogeographic regions of south-western Western Australia.
Conservation status
This daisy bush is listed as "not threatened" by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.