Cassinia decipiens Orchard APNI* 
Description: Shrub 1.5–1.9 m high. Bark on older branches red-brown, splitting into longitudinal flakes; young twigs densely white-woolly.
Leaves alternate, sessile, terete, spreading at 90 degrees to the stem, 10–20 mm long, 0.8–1.0 mm wide, upper surface dark green and glossy, with dense conical hairs, lower surface obsured by revolute margins. with densely matted cottony hairs.
Inflorescence a round-topped cyme 7 cm diameter, with several hundred florets, each 3.0–3.5 mm long, creamy-brown to yellowish. Involucral bracts all papery, hyaline, or white towards the tip, spirally arranged.
Achenes pale brown, cylindrical, 0.8 mm long, smooth with moderately dense appressed twin hairs; papus persistent, in one row, of c.18–23 barbellate bristels.
Flowering: Flowers December and January; fruits January to March.
Distribution and occurrence: Restricted to a small area on the Upper Hunter/Goulburn River, south to near Rylstone in the Central Western Slopes of New South Wales. Found on the sandy soil over sandstone in the shrub understorey of open Eucalytpus forest or woodland at altitudes of 200-400 metres. Associated with Eucalytpus albens, E. sideroxylon, Callitris enderlicheri and Acacia doratoxylon.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CWS
One collection from 1909 is described as coming from the 'Singleton District', but a recent collection from Cedar Creek shows that it is growing in the Hunter Valley.
Text by Louisa Murray
Taxon concept: Orchard, A.E. (2004) A Revision of Cassinia in Australia. 3. Section Leptocephalae
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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