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Olearia avicenniifolia (Raoul) Hook. f.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Olearia avicenniifolia' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/olearia/olearia-avicenniifolia/). Accessed 2024-10-11.

Genus

Synonyms

  • Shawia avicenniifolia Raoul

Glossary

alternate
Attached singly along the axis not in pairs or whorls.
apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
corymb
Unbranched inflorescence with lateral flowers the pedicels of which are of different lengths making the inflorescence appear flat-topped.
entire
With an unbroken margin.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
lanceolate
Lance-shaped; broadest in middle tapering to point.
undulate
Wavy.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Olearia avicenniifolia' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/olearia/olearia-avicenniifolia/). Accessed 2024-10-11.

Olearia avicenniifolia

Olearia avicenniifolia at Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens, Dorset (9th August 2021). Image Julian Sutton.

An evergreen shrub or small tree varying from 8 to 20 ft in height in the wild; young shoots ribbed and clothed with a close, white, scurf-like down. Leaves alternate, oval-lanceolate, tapered towards both ends, pointed or bluntish at the apex, entire, 2 to 4 in. long, 7⁄8 to 13⁄4 in. wide, greyish green and glabrous above, the undersurface furnished with a close, thin, white or yellowish white felt; stalk 1⁄4 to 3⁄4 in. long, grooved and downy like the young shoots. Flower-heads produced in erect, rounded corymbs from the terminal leaf-axils in August and September, each corymb 2 to 3 in. wide and borne on a slender stalk 2 to 3 in. long, grooved and downy. Each flower-head is 1⁄4 in. long, cylindrical, white, the outer bracts erect; there are usually two or three florets in each head, one or two (or sometimes none) of which are ray-florets. Salmon, New Zealand Flowers and Plants in Colour, tt. 109–10.

Native of New Zealand in the South Island, and Stewart Island, up to 3,000 ft altitude. It is one of the hardiest of the olearias, surviving all but the severest winters near London, provided it is given a sheltered position. At Kew it has lived for many years in the outside recesses of the wall of the Temperate House. In the milder parts it has attained a height of 15 ft.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

O. albida Hook. f. – In the typical state of this species, as defined by Allan in Flora of New Zealand, the leaves are 3 to 4 in. long, slightly undulate, and there are three to ten florets in each head. In var. angulata (Kirk) Allan (O. angulata Kirk) the leaves are shorter, 13⁄4 to 3 in. long, more leathery and undulate; flower-heads usually with five or fewer florets. This is reported to be hardier than the typical state.

O albida Hook. f

A shrub or tree to 15 ft high, resembling O. avicenniifolia, but with undulate leaves, shorter flower-stalks, and flower-heads with one to five ray-florets. Salmon, New Zealand Flowers and Plants in Colour, t. 126.Confined to the North Island of New Zealand, in coastal forests. Not known to be in cultivation in the British Isles except at Tresco Abbey in the Isles of Scilly.

O 'Talbot de malahide' O albida Hort., not Hook, f

differs from O. avicenniifolia in its blunter leaves with more rounded bases and larger flower-heads with three to six ray-florets instead of none to two.Not known in the wild, and perhaps of hybrid origin, involving O. avicenniifolia and an unknown parent. It is much confused in horticultural literature with O. albida (see below), the true O. albida being a much more tender species. This plant, hitherto nameless, is designated in memory of the late Lord Talbot de Malahide, whose interest in, and regard for, the genus is so well known.Although damaged in some gardens in the severe winters of 1961–3, this olearia is one of the hardiest, and will withstand full exposure to Atlantic winds.

'White Confusion'

a form differing but slightly from the type, with large, slightly wavy leaves. flowers in june.

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