Flower head and leaf. Australian Plant Image Index, photo: Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Garden, ACT

Flowers. Photo: Michelle Brown, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Flower buds and leaves. Photo: Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Flowering plant. Photo: Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Leaves. Photo: Michelle Brown, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Common Name

Silver-tails; Smoke Bush; Cotton Bush; Silver Mulla Mulla; Silver Bush; White Foxtail, Flannel Flower; Goldfield Clover

Family

Amaranthaceae

Notes

Shrub or perennial forb to 1.2m tall.  Leaves alternating along the stem, 1-6cm long, 5-20mm wide, flat, hairy or scurfy and hairy, tips notched, and/or with a straight point, or blunt.  Flowers pink to grey or white, covered in white hairs, tubular, with 5 'petals'.  Flower heads hemispherical, or spherical to short cylindrical, borne singly or in open panicles  at the ends of the stems.  Ptilotus obovatus var. obovatus in NSW.  Protected NSW.  Endangered Vic (as Ptilotus obovatus ssp. obovatus).

Description and photo (as Ptilotus obovatus var. obovatus) in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales page 288

PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=in&name=Ptilotus~obovatus+var.~obovatus