Large shrub or tree to 10 m tall. Stems branched, silver-hairy. Leaves alternate, ovate to elliptic, to 18 cm long, to 9 cm wide, margins usually toothed, green and glabrous above, white- or silver-hairy below, petiolate. Capitula many in terminal corymbs, to 3 cm across, stalked; spring and summer. Ray florets white. Disk florets yellow. Achenes cylindrical, 2.5–4 mm long, hairy. Pappus bristles white, pale brown or pinkish.
SE Australia.
Other species with largish petiolate leaves are:
O. megalophylla (F. Muell.) Benth. from SE Australia, a spreading shrub with dark green leaves, capitula to 3.5 cm across in terminal corymbs and white ray florets;
O. lirata (Sims) Hutch., Snowy Daisybush, from SE Australia, an erect shrub with light green leaves, capitula to 2.5 cm across in dense terminal panicles or corymbs and white ray florets;
O. persoonioides (DC.) Benth. from Tas, an erect shrub with dark green leaves, capitula to 1.5 cm across in terminal clusters and white ray florets;
O. macrodonta Baker from New Zealand, a large shrub or small tree with dark green leaves, capitula to 1 cm across in terminal corymbs and white ray florets.
Source: (2002). Dahlia. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
Updated by: Niels Klazenga, February 2018