Cassinia quinquefaria

Cassinia quinquefaria, commonly known as rosemary cassinia or simply cassinia, is an erect evergreen shrub of the Asteraceae family native to eastern Australia, occurring chiefly in New South Wales and southern Queensland. It typically grows 1 to 3 m tall, with slender, sticky young branchlets that are pale and pubescent. The crowded, alternate leaves are linear and revolute, 5 to 15 mm long, dark green above and white-tomentose below, recalling rosemary in habit. Inflorescences are dense, flat-topped terminal corymbose panicles bearing very numerous small cylindrical capitula, each enclosed in tiers of pale cream to straw-coloured papery involucral bracts surrounding only a few inconspicuous tubular florets. Flowering is profuse in late summer and autumn, after which the silvery-white bracts persist on the plant, giving it ornamental appeal. It is a pioneer of disturbed ground, eucalypt woodland margins and rocky hillsides.