Olearia stricta subsp. stricta
Viscid shrub with curry-like odour, to c. 1 m high; branchlets with dense glandular hairs and sessile glands, sometimes with woolly hair when young. Leaves alternate, sessile to subsessile, linear (often lobed when young), 5–10(–15) mm long, (0.2–)0.5–1.0 mm wide, green, glandular, sometimes asperate or setose above; glabrous to glabrescent with scattered glands, sometimes sparsely woolly beneath; margins recurved to revolute, sometimes largely obscuring the lower surface. Capitula c. 12–25 mm diam., sessile to subsessile, solitary or rarely in 2–3-flowered clusters, terminal on ends of stems or short lateral branches; involucre conical, 3–6 mm long; bracts 2–3-serate, graduating, viscid, glabrous to glabrescent, acute or obtuse. Ray florests 12–20, mauve or blue, ligules 5–8 mm long; disc florets 6–20, yellow or mauve. Cypsela flattened obovoid, 1.5–2 mm long, 5–6-ribbed, sericeous, with sessile glands; pappus pale, c. 3 mm long. Flowers Feb.–Apr.
EGU, HSF, HNF, VAlp. Occurs at relatively high altitudes (c. 700–1400 m alt.) on dry rocky sites around Licola, Omeo and Mount Buffalo.
Sometimes resembles Olearia ramulosa, but lacks woolly hair on stems and leaves, and has dense glandular hairs on stems.
Willis (1956) and Lander & Walsh (1999) treated this taxon together with plants from inland ranges in western Victoria and East Gippsland as a single entity, O. ramolusa var. stricta (Benth.) J.H.Willis. In more recent iterations of VicFlora this varietal name has only been applied to the latter, with montane plants included in Olearia aff. ramulosa (Omeo). However, as the type specimen of O. stricta is of this montane taxon, the name O. stricta now applies to this taxon. There is currently insufficient evidence to distinguish those plants from inland sites previously recognised at variety rank within O. ramulosa, which are now included in a broadly defined O. ramulosa var. ramulosa (Messina & Walsh 2019).
SpinningSynonyms
Messina, A.; Walsh, N.G. (2019). Reinstating Olearia stricta (Asteraceae) for an uncommon shrub from montane regions of SE Australia, and notes on O. ramulosa. Muelleria 37: 109–117.