Erect or procumbent shrub to 2 m tall. Stems branched, cottony-hairy. Leaves alternate, narrow-elliptic to ovate, to 3 mm long, to 1mm wide,margins entire, green and more or less glabrous above, grey cottony-hairy below, sessile or nearly so. Capitula terminal, solitary, to 13 mm across, without stalks; late winter to early summer. Ray florets mauve, blue or white. Disk florets cream or mauve. Achenes obovoid, 1–1.5 mm long, glabrous to hairy. Pappus bristles white.
SE Australia
Other species with small sessile leaves are:
O. algida N.A.Wakef., Alpine Daisybush, from SE Australia, a bushy shrub with dark green leaves, capitula to 1.2 cm across and solitary in leaf axils, and white ray florets;
O. microdiska J.M. Black, Smallflowered Daisy-bush, from Kangaroo Island, an erect compact shrub with light green leaves, terminal capitula to 3 mm across and solitary on erect branchlets, and white ray florets;
O. ciliata (Benth.) Benth., Fringed Daisy-bush, from southern Australia, a sparse, variable shrub with light green leaves, solitary terminal capitula to 4 cm across and lilac to blue 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