Erect shrub to 2 m tall. Stems branched, stellate-hairy. Leaves alternate, narrow-ovate to narrow-obovate, to 3 cm long, to 1 cm wide, margins entire or toothed, green and glabrous or stellate-hairy above, grey stellate-hairy below, petiolate. Capitula terminal, solitary or clustered, to 2.5 cm across, with stalks; spring and summer. Ray florets white. Disk florets yellow. Achenes cylindrical, about 2 mm long, glandular or hairy. Pappus bristles white.
SE Australia.
An extremely variable species with several flower colour cultivars recognised, some of which were introduced to the UK from Tas over 50 years ago.
Other species with moderately large petiolate leaves are:
O. myrsinoides (Labill.) Benth., Silky Daisy-bush, from SE Australia, a spreading shrub with dark green leaves, capitula to 2 cm across in terminal leafy panicles and white ray florets;
O. erubescens (DC.) Dippel, Moth Daisy-bush, from SE Australia, a spreading shrub with dark green leaves, capitula to 3 cm across in terminal panicles 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