Leaves alternate, sometimes minute and stem-clasping; margins often revolute, usually entire; mostly sessile.
Heads in clusters or umbellate corymbs, terminal, or terminal on short lateral branches; heads oblong, campanulate or globose; involucral bracts papery, tomentose, glabrescent or glabrous, with or without radiating laminas; receptacle flat, without interfloral scales. Florets as long as involucral bracts, all bisexual or with a few female filiform outer florets; corolla yellow or white; style branches truncate, papillose.
Achenes subterete or 4-angled, oblong, sparsely hairy with short clavate hairs or papillose; pappus of fine barbellate hairs, the apical barbels often clavate and opaque white.
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Leaves scale-like, appressed to the stem or stem-clasping, usually less than 5 mm long | 2 |
| Leaves erect or reflexed, petiolate or sessile or stem-clasping but not appressed or reduced, usually more than 5 mm long | 5 |
| 2 | Inflorescence terminal, tips of involucral bracts transparent or opaque but then not spreading | 3 |
| Inflorescence on most lateral shoots, tips of the involucral bracts opaque white, spreading
Back to 1 | Ozothamnus cupressoides |
| 3 | Involucral bracts totally transparent or hyaline | 4 |
| Involucral bracts almost entirely opaque white, inflated
Back to 2 | Ozothamnus tuckeri |
| 4 | Leaves fused to the stem for half their length | Ozothamnus adnatus |
| Leaves articulate or stem-clasping
Back to 3 | Ozothamnus diotophyllus |
| 5 | Involucral bracts woolly or thin and scarious or hyaline, without opaque white laminas | 6 |
| Involucral bracts with opaque white papery laminas
Back to 1 | 13 |
| 6 | Involucral bracts white-woolly | 7 |
| Involucral bracts scarious or hyaline
Back to 5 | 8 |
| 7 | Leaves obovate, the upper surface scabrous | Ozothamnus obovatus |
| Leaves lanceolate, the upper surface glabrous
Back to 6 | Ozothamnus whitei |
| 8 | Leaves linear, c. 1 mm wide | 9 |
| Leaves lanceolate or obcordate, more than 3 mm wide
Back to 6 | 10 |
| 9 | Heads globose; leaves stiff, fused to the stem for half their length | Ozothamnus tesselatus |
| Heads narrow-campanulate; leaves flexible, not fused to the stem
Back to 8 | Ozothamnus cassinioides |
| 10 | Stems strongly angular | Ozothamnus vagans |
| Stems terete or slightly striate
Back to 8 | 11 |
| 11 | Leaves with petiole at least 4 mm long, loosely webby on both surfaces; decumbent, prostrate shrubs | Ozothamnus bidwillii |
| Leaves with petiole ± 1 mm long, upper surface glabrous, lower surface closely tomentose; erect shrubs
Back to 10 | 12 |
| 12 | Leaves oblong; inflorescence pyramidal | Ozothamnus rufescens |
| Leaves obcordate; inflorescence a broad corymb
Back to 11 | Ozothamnus obcordatus |
| 13 | Involucral bracts almost entirely opaque white, inflated and crinkly, hyaline only at the very base; leaves tightly revolute, completely obscuring the lower surface | Ozothamnus diosmifolius |
| Outer involucral bracts scarious, hyaline, brown, yellow or red; inner involucral bracts with white papery laminas; leaves flat, recurved or slightly revolute, but not obscuring the lower surface
Back to 5 | 14 |
| 14 | All new growth with long needle-like glistening hairs; outer involucral bracts red | Ozothamnus alpinus |
| Plants without needle-like hairs; outer involucral bracts brown or yellow
Back to 13 | 15 |
| 15 | Leaves spathulate to cuneate | Ozothamnus cuneifolius |
| Leaves linear, lanceolate or oblong
Back to 14 | 16 |
| 16 | Leaves lanceolate, the largest more than 6 mm wide | 17 |
| Leaves linear or oblong, less than 3 mm wide
Back to 15 | 18 |
| 17 | Heads 5–10 mm long, 8–12 mm diam | Ozothamnus stirlingii |
| Heads 4–5 mm long, 2.5 – 4 mm diam
Back to 16 | Ozothamnus argophyllus |
| 18 | Inflorescence of corymbs terminal on many short lateral shoots, often only on the upper side of arching branches | 19 |
| Inflorescence of corymbs terminal at the ends of major branches; shrubs without arching branches
Back to 16 | 20 |
| 19 | Leaves with midrib on the lower surface glabrous; upper surface of the leaf glabrescent | Ozothamnus thyrsoideus |
| Leaves with midrib on the lower surface tomentose, the same colour as the rest of the surface; upper surface of the leaf with appressed hairs arranged pinnately
Back to 18 | Ozothamnus secundiflorus |
| 20 | Most leaves at right angles to the stem; leaves with base distinctly tinged yellow on lower surface; outer bracts usually tinged yellow | Ozothamnus turbinatus |
| Leaves variously spreading but not consistently arranged; neither base of leaves nor bracts tinged yellow
Back to 18 | 21 |
| 21 | Leaves with margins revolute, scabrous with minute antrorse prickles on the upper surface | Ozothamnus rosmarinifolius |
| Leaves with margins flat or scarcely recurved; leaves woolly or glabrescent on the upper surface
Back to 20 | 22 |
| 22 | Leaves with margins finely crenate | Ozothamnus ferrugineus |
| Leaves with margins smooth
Back to 21 | Ozothamnus conditus |
