woolly daisy-bush

Olearia lanuginosa is an erect, twiggy shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) and has cottony-hairy branchlets. Its leaves are arranged alternately along the branchlets, egg-shaped, 0.5–2 mm (0.020–0.079 in) long, 0.5–1.3 mm (0.020–0.051 in) wide, sessile and cottony-hairy. The heads or daisy-like "flowers" are arranged singly on the ends of short side-branchlets and are 7–12 mm (0.28–0.47 in) in diameter and sessile. Each head has four to seven white to mauve ray florets, the ligule 3–5 mm (0.12–0.20 in) long, surrounding five to ten mauve to yellowish disc florets. Flowering occurs from November to March and the fruit is a hairy achene, the pappus with whitish bristles about 2.5 mm (0.098 in) long.

Olearia lanuginosa grows in heath, mallee and woodlands in the Coolgardie, Great Victoria Desert, Mallee and Murchison bioregions of Western Australia, in the south-east of South Australia and in the Big and Little Deserts and Grampians regions of Victoria.