Olearia mooneyi
{{Short description|Species of shrub}}
{{Speciesbox
|image = Olearia mooneyi herbarium specimen.jpg
|image_caption = Herbarium specimen
|genus = Olearia
|species = mooneyi
|authority = (F.Muell.) Hemsl.{{cite web|title=Olearia mooneyi|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/105037|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=30 May 2019}}
|synonyms =
}}
Olearia mooneyi, commonly known as pumpkin bush,{{cite web |last1=Green |first1=Peter S. |title=Olearia mooneyi |url=https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Olearia~mooneyi |publisher=Royal Botanic Garden Sydney |access-date=30 May 2022}} is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae and is endemic to Lord Howe Island. It is a shrub or small tree with hairy, elliptic to egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and white and pale yellow, daisy-like inflorescences.
Description
Olearia mooneyi is a densely-foliaged shrub that typically grows to a height of up to {{cvt|2|m}} or a tree to {{cvt|4|m}}. Its leaves are arranged alternately, crowded, narrowly to broadly elliptic or egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, {{cvt|40–100|mm}} long and {{cvt|15–35|mm}} on a petiole {{cvt|3–12|mm}} long. The upper surface of the leaves is glabrous, green and shiny, the lower surface pale brown and covered with fine woolly hairs. The heads or daisy-like "flowers" are arranged in dense corymbs and are about {{cvt|8|mm}} in diameter, the involucre about {{cvt|3|mm}} long and softly-hairy. Each head has about twelve white ray florets, the ligules about {{cvt|6|mm}} long, surrounding about eight pale yellow disc florets. Flowering occurs from November to January and the fruit is a hairy brown achene, the pappus with about twenty bristles.{{cite web |title=Olearia mooneyi |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Olearia%20mooneyi |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra |access-date=30 May 2022}}
Taxonomy
Pumpkin bush was first formally described in 1874 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Aster mooneyi in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae from specimens collected by "Lind" and [https://www.anbg.gov.au/biography/fullagar-james-p.html Fullagar] on the summits of Mount Lidgbird and Mount Gower.{{cite web |title=Aster mooneyi|url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/name/apni/537780/api/apni-format |website=APNI |accessdate=30 May 2022}}{{cite book |last1=von Mueller |first1=Ferdinand |title=Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae |volume=8 |date=1875 |publisher=Victorian Government Printer |location=Melbourne |page=144 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/7225#page/145/mode/1up |access-date=30 May 2022}} In 1896, William Hemsley changed the name to Olearia mooneyi.{{cite web |title=Olearia mooneyi|url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/name/apni/537780/api/apni-format |website=APNI |accessdate=30 May 2022}} The specific epithet honours Thomas Mooney (1842–1873), an early settler of Lord Howe Island who was interested in its plants. Mooney arrived on the island in 1867 but was lost at sea in 1873.{{cite web |last1=Blair |first1=David |title=Lord Howe Island |url=https://www.anps.org.au/upload/ANPS%20Placenames%20Report%203.pdf |pages= 72,77 |publisher=Australian National Placenames Survey |access-date=30 May 2022}}