Sprawling shrub to 2 m tall. Stems branched, stellate-hairy. Leaves alternate, linear to obovate, to 7.5 cm long, to 1 cm wide, margins entire, toothed or lobed, green and stellate-hairy above, grey to brown stellate-hairy below, sessile or nearly so. Capitula terminal, solitary or clustered, to 4 cm across, with or without stalks; spring and summer. Ray florets mauve, blue or white. Disk florets yellow or purplish. Achenes cylindrical, about 3 mm long, glabrous to hairy. Pappus bristles pale brown.
SE Australia
Other species with moderately large sessile leaves are:
O. ledifolia (DC.) Benth. from Tas, a rounded shrub with light green leaves, capitula to 2 cm across and solitary in leaf axils, and white ray florets;
O. picridifolia (F. Muell.) Benth. from southern Australia, a low, spreading shrub with green or grey-green leaves, capitula to 2.5 cm across in axillary and/or terminal corymbs or solitary, and blue, mauve or white ray florets;
O. axillaris (DC.) Benth. from southern Australia, a bushy shrub with green to grey-green leaves, capitula to 1.3 cm across and solitary in leaf axils or terminal on short branchlets, and white ray florets;
O. semidentata Decne. from New Zealand, a large, rounded shrub with light green leaves, terminal, solitary capitula to 5 cm across and purple ray florets;
O. pimeleoides (DC.) Benth. from southern and E Australia, an erect shrub with light green leaves, usually solitary terminal capitula to 3.5 cm across 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
