Third attempt

Concerning the plant first identified by Google Images as Ngai camphor, as noticed at reference 1. Then the flurry of activity noticed at reference 2.

This time, I try a different version of the original snap and Google Images now seems keen on ploughman's spikenard (Inula conyzae), which seems much more plausible. It points me to some useful images at reference 3, only tainted by my failing to find out anything about the ownership or funding of this well-illustrated website (reference 4). And the absence of teeth on the leaves in my snap.

Confusion in that the plant seems to have been moved out of the Inula genus and is now known to Wikipedia (reference 5) as Pentanema squarrosum, another genus in the large aster family.

Bentham & Hooker, once again, supportive if not conclusive.

In the margins I have learned about ray flowers, a feature of the asters generally. So in the snap above of a typical aster flower (Bidens torta), lifted from reference 6, we have five ray flowers - usually somewhat degraded from the regular flower format - and around 16 florets doing the real business in the middle. From which came the old family name of Compositae, for the compound flowers. Think daisies, dandelions and sunflowers.

For the dedicated, a rather more technical description of all this is provided in the aster section of reference 7. Technicalities which I bounced off.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/09/his-and-hers.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/09/the-church-house.html.

Reference 3: https://www.uksouthwest.net/wildflowers/asteraceae/inula-conyza.html.

Reference 4: https://www.uksouthwest.net/.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentanema_squarrosum.

Reference 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteraceae.

Reference 7: Guide to flowering plant families - Wendy B. Zomlefer - 1994. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.