Ozothamnus floribundus de Salas & Schmidt-Leb., 2018

De Salas, Miguel F. & Schmidt-Lebuhn, Alexander N., 2018, Integrative approach resolves the taxonomy of the Ozothamnus ledifolius (Asteraceae: Gnaphaliae) species complex in Tasmania, Australia, Phytotaxa 358 (2), pp. 117-138 : 135

Ozothamnus floribundus de Salas & Schmidt-Leb. , spec. nov.

Type:— AUSTRALIA. Tasmania: Merchants Hill. Channel Highway, approximately 250 m ENE of intersection with Randalls Bay Road, 8 Jan 2014, M. F. de Salas 461 (holotype: HO 575836 ; isotype: CANB) .

Erect, slender columnar, highly floriferous shrub to 1 m tall. Younger stems and leaves viscid with a pale yellow exudate, slightly sweetly aromatic; older stems with slightly raised, persistent leaf bases. Leaves loosely crowded, spreading, soon reflexed; lamina linear, (3.2–)3.7–6.3(–8.6) mm long, (0.5–)0.6–0.9(–1.1) mm wide; adaxial surface slightly lanate, with indumentum evident mostly on older leaves, once the exudate is lost, bright green with midrib sunken; abaxial surface cottony; midrib darker, glabrescent; margins slightly recurved; apex acute to obtuse, rounded. Inflorescence a corymbose panicle, terminal; bracts scarious, ovate to lanceolate, viscid, slightly tomentose with margins fimbriate and apex apiculate. Involucre cylindrical, 4–5 mm long, 1.1–1.6(–1.7) mm diameter, not suffused with pink; outer involucral bracts with scarious margins, slightly tomentose, viscid with pale yellow exudate; inner involucral bracts 4.5–5 mm long, spathulate, with a long claw, and a spreading white lamina. Florets 4–5(–6). Achenes papillose-pubescent; pappus barbellate, with ends somewhat clavate. Flowers Dec.–Jan.

Distribution and habitat:—Known from a single, isolated population on Triassic sandstone at approximately 150 m above sea level in the Huon Valley, near Randalls Bay.

Remarks:—Characterised by its delicate, narrow, short, flat leaves, appressed woolly indumentum, yellowish-green exudate, and low floret number (typically 4–5 per capitulum).

Etymology:—Named floribundus after the highly floriferous nature of this taxon, which can be covered in inflorescences so profusely that it’s difficult to see the foliage underneath.

Selected specimens:— AUSTRALIA. Tasmania, Road to Cygnet turnoff to Randalls Bay , 02 Jan 1974, M. P. Cameron s.n. ( HO) ; Between Gardners Bay & Garden Island Creek , 28 Dec 1995, A. M. Buchanan 14049 ( HO) ; Merchants Hill , 08 Jan 2014, M. F. de Salas 461 ( HO) ; M. F. de Salas 462 ( HO) ; M. F. de Salas 463 ( HO) ; M. F. de Salas 464 ( HO) ; M. F. de Salas 465 ( HO) .