Cassinia is a genus of about fifty-two species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae that are native to Australia and New Zealand. Plants in the genus Cassinia are shrubs, sometimes small trees with leaves arranged alternately, and heads of white, cream-coloured, yellow or pinkish flowers surrounded by several rows of bracts.
Description
Plants in the genus Cassinia are shrubs or small trees, sometimes with sticky foliage. The leaves are arranged alternately, the edges flat to strongly rolled under, and the flowers white to cream-coloured, yellow or pinkish, arranged in heads, the heads in cylindrical, top-shaped or bell-shaped corymbs. The heads are surrounded by several rows of usually erect, boat-shaped bracts. The florets are bisexual and cylindrical with five lobes and the cypselas are small and usually have a pappus of bristles.[2][3][4]
Taxonomy
The genus Cassinia was first formally described in 1817 by Robert Brown in his book Observations on the Natural Family of Plants called Compositae.[5][6] Brown had previously used the name Cassinia in the second edition of the Hortus Kewensis but the name was not validly published because no species was described.[7][8]
^Brown, Robert (1813). "Cassinia". Hortus Kewensis. 5 (2 ed.): 184–185. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
^Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 67. ISBN9780958034180.
^"Cassinia". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
