Classification
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Olearia virgata (Hook.f.) Hook.f., Handb. New Zealand Fl. 128 (1864)
Vernacular Name(s):
Twiggy tree daisy
 Description

Slender ± divaricate shrub up to c. 2.5 m. tall; branches slender, ± virgate; branchlets 4-angled, sulcate, elongate, opp., ± divaricate, pilose when young. Lvs in small opp. fascicles or occ. paired, 5–10–(20) × 3–5–(8) mm., entire, obovate to narrow-obovate, obtuse, subcoriac., glab. or nearly so above, clad in soft appressed white to buff tomentum below; petioles c. 1 mm. long. Capitula ± 8–9 mm. diam., in opp. fascicles or paired, on slender bracted or nude tomentose pedicels. Phyll. short, woolly-tomentose, in 2–(4) series. Ray-florets few, ligulate; disk-florets 6–8. Pappus-hairs white to reddish; achenes puberulous.

[From: Allan (1961) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 1.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Phenology

Flowering: Oct.–Jan.; Fruiting: Dec.–Feb.

 Bibliography
de Lange, P.J.; Gosden, J.; Courtney, S.P.; Fergus, A.J.; Barkla, J.W.; Beadel, S.M.; Champion, P.D., Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Makan, T.; Michel, P. 2024: Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 43. [Not threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Not Threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Not Threatened]
Heenan, P.B. 2001: Natural variation in Olearia virgata (Asteraceae). New Zealand Journal of Botany 39(3): 381–393.
Hooker, J.D. 1864: Handbook of the New Zealand Flora: a systematic description of the native plants of New Zealand and the Chatham, Kermadec's, Lord Auckland's, Campbell's and Macquarie's Islands. Part I. Reeve, London.
Saldivia, P.; Nicol, D.A. 2025: Reinstatement, broader circumscription, and infrageneric classification of Shawia (Astereae, Celmisiinae), a large woody genus endemic to Australasia. Phytoneuron 2025-49: 1–43 (online). (Published online: 11 September 2025)