Erechtites hispidula

Erechtites hispidulus, sometimes called Australian fireweed, is an erect annual or short-lived herb of the Asteraceae family, native to Australia and adjacent parts of Oceania and now widely naturalised across the warmer parts of Asia and the Pacific. Plants typically grow 30 to 150 cm tall on a single, ribbed, hispid stem that is hairy throughout, especially toward the base. Leaves are alternate, sessile and somewhat clasping, lance-shaped to oblong, coarsely toothed or pinnately lobed, with the lower leaves largest and the upper ones progressively smaller. Numerous narrow, cylindrical flower heads are borne in loose, leafy, branched corymbs at the tops of the stems. Each head contains only tubular disc florets (no ray florets) in shades of greenish-white to pale yellow, surrounded by a single row of equal involucral bracts. The seed-like achenes are small and ribbed, each bearing a copious tuft of fine white pappus bristles that allow wind dispersal over long distances.