Applebush

Applebush, Pterocaulon sphacelatum, also called apple bush or fruit-salad plant, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae that is endemic to Australia. It is a small, upright shrub or perennial herb with stiff stems covered in short, brownish, woolly or matted hairs, and oblong to lance-shaped, wrinkled leaves that are green and hairy on both sides. Its oval to globe-shaped flower heads carry pink to purple florets and open from July to October, and the fruit is a brown, spindle-shaped achene bearing 15 to 20 bristles. It grows in a variety of habitats, mostly in places that flood now and then and on disturbed ground such as roadsides, in Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the Northern Territory. The plant is aromatic and is used in Australian Aboriginal medicine. Labillardière first described it as Monenteles sphacelatus, and the epithet sphacelatum means "brown or blackish speckling".