A rather straggling evergreen shrublet. Leaves alternate, obovate, entire or bluntly sinuate-toothed in the upper part, densely covered with stellate hairs on both surfaces, paler beneath, 1⁄2 to 1 in. long, 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. wide. Flower-heads solitary, terminal, or two or three together from the axils of the upper leaves, pedunculate, 3⁄4 to 11⁄2 in. across. Disk-florets numerous, yellow; ray-florets forty to fifty, pale mauve or lilac. Bot. Mag., n.s., t. 521.
An endemic of Victoria, Australia, where it grows in the Mt Hotham-Mt Bogong area at about 4,500 ft. It first came to notice in this country in 1966, when it was shown from Inverewe by the National Trust for Scotland at the R.H.S. Show on July 26, under the name O. gravis. How and when it was introduced to Inverewe is not known for certain. It is a comparative newcomer to the genus Olearia, for although described, as Aster frostii, in 1890 it was not transferred to Olearia until 1955.
O. frostii is a most ornamental species, with neat, sage-green leaves and large, delicately coloured flower-heads. Although of untested hardiness, it is likely to be very tender outside the mildest parts.