Centipeda cunninghamii

Centipeda cunninghamii is a small, prostrate to weakly ascending annual or short-lived perennial herb in the family Asteraceae, widely distributed across inland Australia and reaching into New Zealand. It typically forms low mats 10–30 cm across, with slender branching stems bearing alternate, narrowly obovate to oblanceolate leaves 5–25 mm long that are coarsely toothed toward the tip and slightly succulent. The plant is strongly aromatic when crushed, releasing a distinctive sharp, camphoraceous scent. Flower heads are small, sessile, hemispheric, button-like discs about 3–6 mm in diameter, set singly in upper leaf axils; they are greenish to yellow and lack ray florets. Numerous tiny tubular disc florets are surrounded by an involucre of small green bracts. The fruit is a four-angled, ribbed achene crowned with short bristles. It favours seasonally inundated clay soils, floodplains, lake margins, and damp depressions.