Erect shrub to c. 1.2 m high; branchlets densely cottony, viscid or not. Leaves sessile, erect, appressed to the stem, ovate to narrowly triangular, (1.2–)1.5–3.5(–3.8) mm long, 0.5–0.9(–1.7) mm wide, glabrescent and viscid adaxially, densely cottony abaxially, apex rounded, margins strongly revolute, curled to the midvein. Inflorescences dense, terminal, umbellate heads, each 9.5–13 mm diam. Capitula (3–)5–15(–35), pedunculate, dull-yellow, cylindric, 3.7–5.0 mm long, 1.2–1.3 mm wide; involucral bracts 15–22, innermost spathulate, with lamina deltoid, 0.8–1.0(–1.4) mm long, suberect, white, margin entire to lacerate, incurved; receptacle bracts 1–3; female florets absent; hermaphroditic florets 3–6. Cypsela narrow-ovoid, 1.2–1.3 mm long, densely papillose; pappus bristles 2.8–3.7 mm long, apex narrowly clavate. Flowers Dec. –Feb.
EGU, HSF, HNF, MonT, VAlp. Also NSW, ACT. Widespread through the alps, usually at open sites in grassland and heath and near bogs and drainage lines but also occasionally along the margins of Eucalyptus pauciflora Sieber ex Spreng. woodland.
A taxon closely allied to and previously confused with Ozothamnus hookeri, which is confined to Tasmania. O. cupressoides, confined to mainland Australia, differs from O. hookeri by its longer leaves (usually 0.5–1.5 mm in O. hookeri), and inflorescences with more numerous (usually 4–6 capitula in O. hookeri) pedunculate capitula. The peduncles in most cases can only be viewed with the aid of a handlens or microscope but are long enough to allow separation of capitula from the plant with forceps without causing damage to the capitulum.
Plants from the Baw Baw Plateau have 5–7 capitula per inflorescence, which is more typical of O. hookeri. The density that the leaves are arranged along the stems in the Baw Baw Plateau plants is occasionally also more similar to O. hookeri than other O. cupressoides populations. However, other features of the Baw Baw Plateau plants, including pedunculate capitula and leaf length, are consistent with what is expected for O. cupressoides (Ohlsen et al. 2010).
Plants near Langfords Gap on the Bogong High Plains which have longer (3–3.5 mm long) and broader (1.5–2.5 mm wide) leaves that are not closely appressed to the stem and longer florets (4–5 mm long) are likely to be hybrids between this species and O. alpinus Anderb. Both putative parental species grow in the area.
