Olearia stuartii
{{short description|Species of plant}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Speciesbox
|image = Olearia stuartii.jpg
|image_caption =
|genus = Olearia
|species = stuartii
|authority = (F.Muell.) Benth.{{cite web|title=Olearia stuartii|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/106815|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=6 August 2022}}
|synonyms =
- Aster megalodontus F.Muell.
- Aster stuartii (F.Muell.) F.Muell.
- Eurybia stuartii F.Muell.
- Olearia megalodonta C.A.Gardner nom. inval., pro syn.
- Olearia stuartii F.Muell. nom. inval., pro syn.
}}
File:Olearia stuartii Fagg.jpg]]
Olearia stuartii is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae and is endemic arid parts of inland Australia. It is compact, spreading shrub or undershrub with lance-shaped leaves and blue to mauve and yellow, daisy-like inflorescences.
Description
Olearia stuartii is a compact, sticky, spreading shrub or subshrub that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|0.25–1.0|m}}, the stems woody and covered with soft hairs. Its leaves are lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, mostly {{cvt|4–28|mm}} long, {{cvt|2–6|mm}} wide and sessile with 2 to 5 pairs of lobes on the edges. The heads or daisy-like "flowers" are arranged singly or in groups of up to four on the ends of branches and are pedunculate with a hemispherical involucre {{cvt|5–6|mm}} long at the base. Each head has 20 to 50 blue to mauve ray florets, the ligule {{cvt|6–10|mm}} long, surrounding 30 to 70 yellow disc florets. Flowering occurs from June to September and the fruit is a flattened achene about {{cvt|3|mm}} long, the pappus with 20 to 30 bristles {{cvt|4–5|mm}} long.{{cite web |title=Olearia stuartii |url=http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/cgi-bin/speciesfacts_display.cgi?form=speciesfacts&name=Olearia_stuartii |publisher=State Herbarium of South Australia |access-date=6 August 2022}}{{cite web |title=Olearia stuartii |url=http://eflora.nt.gov.au/factsheet?id=622 |publisher=Northern Territory Government |access-date=6 August 2022}}{{FloraBase|name=Olearia stuartii|id=8151}}
Taxonomy
This daisy was first formally described in 1859 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Eurybia stuartii in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae from specimens collected in western inland South Australia by John McDouall Stuart.{{cite web |title=Eurybia stuartii |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/name/apni/532034/api/apni-format |website=APNI |accessdate=6 August 2022}}{{cite book |last1=von Mueller |first1=Ferdinand |title=Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae |date=1859 |publisher=Victorian Government Printer |location=Melbourne |page=202 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/202689#page/226/mode/1up |access-date=6 August 2022}} In 1867 George Bentham changed the name to Olearia stuartii in Flora Australiensis.{{cite web |title=Olearia stuartii |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/name/apni/536961/api/apni-format |website=APNI |accessdate=4 August 2022}} The specific epithet (stuartii) honours the collector of the type specimens.{{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=315|edition=3rd}}
Distribution and habitat
Olearia stuartii grows in woodland on rocky hills, on ranges, near cliffs and rocky creek beds in inland Western Australia, the south of the Northern Territory, the north-west of South Australia and inland Queensland.{{cite web |title=Olearia stuartii |url=https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://id.biodiversity.org.au/node/apni/2921261 |publisher=Atlas of Living Australia |access-date=6 August 2022}}