Silver Cottonwood (Cassinia leptophylla)
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Cassinia
Species: Cassinia leptophylla
Common name: Silver Cottonwood, Tauhinu
14 synonyms:
Ozothamnus leptophyllus (G. Forst.) Breitw. & J. M. Ward
Cassinia amoenatorta Carse
Ozothamnus vauvilliersii
Calea leptophylla G. Forst.
Cassinia amoena Cheeseman
Cassinia retorta A. Cunn. ex DC.
Cassinia cinerea Banks & Sol. ex Hook. f.
Cassinia fulvida Hook. f.
Cassinia vauvilliersii Hook. f.
Olearia xanthophylla Colenso
Cassinia leptophylla (G. Forst.) R. Br.
Cassinia albida (Kirk) Cockayne
Cassinia rubra Buchanan
Cassinia glossophylla Cass.
Cassinia spathulata Colenso
Photographed in Te Kainga Marire - Native New Zealand Garden, New Plymouth Spencer Place next to the Te Henui Walkway
Cassinia leptophylla is a common evergreen New Zealand native shrub in coastal areas, especially sand dunes. It is a bushy shrub with small silver green leaves with fine silver hair beneath. The stems silver/white in colour. It has an attractive silver-grey appearance and from July to August it flowers in profusion with clusters of tiny cream daisy (wheel-shaped) flowers followed by down-covered seed heads. The fruits are small, dry, indehiscent one-seeded fruit with a thin wall. The seeds are dispersed by the wind. The tiny daisy seeds germinate and establish themselves easily on bare soils and in over-grazed pasture.
Cassinia leptophylla is fast-growing, reaching its maximum height of 2 metres in 10–15 years. Unless their under storey plants are heavily grazed, tauhinu shrublands are usually overtopped by taller shrubs and trees, and develop into coastal broadleaved scrub. Cassinia leptophylla prefers a sunny location and will tolerate temperatures down to -12.2 º C.
A crude extract from Cassinia leptophylla, was shown to possess antifungal activity. Flavonoids, mainly chalcones in the leaf exudate, were isolated, some of which possessed antiviral as well as antifungal activity.
It is listed NZ Common Weeds in Colour by E.A. Uprichard
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