An evergreen shrub of dense, bushy, much-branched habit, 3 to 6 ft high, with a distinct musk-like scent and slightly viscid; young shoots, flower-stalks, involucres and undersurface of leaves covered with a close white felt. Leaves of leathery texture, alternate, closely set on the branches, oval inclined to obovate, rounded at the apex, tapered at the base to a very short stalk, quite without teeth, 1⁄3 to 3⁄4 in. long, 1⁄8 to 3⁄8 in. wide, greenish grey and scurfy above. Corymbs axillary, made up of twenty to thirty flower-heads produced on a slender main-stalk up to 2 in. long, the stalks of the individual flower-head much shorter. There are twelve to twenty florets in a head; ray-florets white, usually seven to nine, linear, giving each flower-head a diameter of 1⁄3 to 1⁄2 in.; disk-florets yellow. Salmon, Field Guide to the Alpine Plants of New Zealand, t. 7.
Native of the South Island, New Zealand; discovered by Sir Julius von Haast in 1862. This daisy bush is very distinct on account of its silvery-grey colour, its musky scent, small leaves, and close compact habit. When in bloom the leaves are almost hidden by the wealth of blossom. It needs winter shelter at Kew, but farther south succeeds well in the open air.
O. moschata × O. nummulariifolia. – A natural hybrid, resembling a small-leaved O. × haastii, with closer tomentum on the lower surface of the leaves and larger, fewer flower-heads. It is not known for certain to be in cultivation.