Phil Bendle Collection:Olearia furfuracea (Akepiro)

Kingdom:   Plantae
(Unranked):        Angiosperms
(Unranked):        Eudicots
(Unranked):        Asterids
Order:       Asterales
Family:      Asteraceae
Tribe:        Astereae
Genus:      Olearia
Species: O. furfuracea
Binominal name: Olearia furfuracea
Synonymy: Haxtonia furfuracea, Olearia furfuracea var. rubicunda, Olearia furfuracea var. furfuracea, Olearia furfuracea var. angustata, Olearia furfuracea var. angustata subvar. dubia Aster furfuraceus, Eurybia furfuracea, Shawia furfuracea,
Common names: Akepiro; Kūmara-kai-torouka; Tanguru; Wharangi-piro

Olearia furfuracea is a native shrub found in coastal scrub and forest margins of the northern half of the North Island. The leaves are dark green and leathery with buff tomentum underneath. It has white daisy-like flowers in Summer and the seeds are dispersed by the wind.  It can obtain a height of 2-3 m.

The description below is from Allan (1961) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 1
Shrub or tree up to 5 m. tall, branchlets grooved, pubescent. Lvs 5-10 × 3-6 cm., on petioles up to 2.5 cm. long, obliquely ovate- to elliptic-oblong, coriac., glab. above when mature, clad in thin appressed brownish lustrous tomentum below, margins somewhat undulate, subentire to distantly or closely crenate-dentate. Capitula ∞ in large corymbs on rather slender pedicels, florets 8-12, ray-florets up to 5; phyll. pilose to ciliate, lanceolate- to elliptic-oblong. Achenes striate, pubescent to pilose, 2-2.5 mm. long, compressed, linear; pappus-hairs very unequal, thickened at tips, up to 5 mm. long.

[1]

[2]

The leave's underside with buff tomentum.
 

Thanks to Wikipedia for text and information: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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