Baccharis salicifolia
Baccharis plummerae
mule's fat, mule-fat, seepwillow, water wally
Plummer's baccharis
spreading to ascending, green to tan, simple proximally, sparingly branched distally, striate-angled, glabrous or minutely hairy, resinous and ± resin-varnished.
erect, simple, slender, wandlike, striate, villous or glabrate, glandular or eglandular.
present at flowering (abundant, well developed);
sessile or petiolate;
blades lanceolate-elliptic, slightly falcate (willowlike), 30–150 × 3–20 mm, bases attenuate, margins usually finely serrate from bases to apices, sometimes entire, apices acute to acuminate, faces glabrous, gland-dotted, ± resinous.
present at flowering;
sessile;
blades linear to oblong or oblanceolate, 8–55 × 1–13 mm, bases cuneate, margins sharply serrate (teeth fine, sharp, bristly), apices obtuse, faces densely villous or adaxial sometimes glabrate or glabrous.
hemispheric; staminate 3–6 mm, pistillate involucres 3–6 mm.
campanulate; staminate 4–6 mm, pistillate 6–8.5 mm.
50–150;
corollas 2–3.5 mm.
20–30;
corollas 3.5–5 mm.
(10–)17–48;
corollas 4–6 mm.
19–26;
corollas 4–7 mm.
ovate to lanceolate, 2–4 mm, margins scarious, erose or irregularly dentate, midribs distinct, medians green or reddish, apices (greenish or brownish purple) obtuse to acuminate (pale and dry, glabrous).
lanceolate, 2–6 mm, margins scarious, medians green (villous), apices acute to acuminate, ciliate, sometimes glandular.
in terminal, compound corymbiform arrays (often involving distal branches).
(50–100+) in compact paniculiform or corymbiform arrays.
0.8–1.5 mm, 5-nerved, glabrous;
pappi 3–6 mm.
2.5–3.6 mm, 5-nerved, villous, viscid;
pappi 7–8.5 mm.
= 18, 36.
Baccharis salicifolia
Baccharis plummerae
Baccharis salicifolia is part of a complex that extends through the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America to Argentina and Chile (J. Cuatrecasas 1968). It is recognized by the narrowly lanceolate, willowlike, finely serrate leaves with acute or acuminate apices, smallish heads in dense clusters, reddish phyllaries, and 5-nerved cypselae. By tagging and measuring individual plants throughout the year, D. H. Wilken (1972) demonstrated that B. salicifolia has distinct seasonal forms. The North American plants were once known as B. glutinosa or B. viminea, which were differentiated from each other by differences in woodiness, leaf size and serration, and flowering time.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
Baccharis plummerae is recognized by the bushy habit, wandlike, densely villous or glabrate stems, narrowly oblong leaves with sharply serrate margins, and densely villous or glabrate leaves, phyllaries, and cypselae. It is morphologically similar to B. malibuensis.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Stems villous, eglandular; leaves (3–)5–13 mm wide | subsp. plummerae |
1. Stems glabrate, glandular; leaves 1–2(–3) mm wide | subsp. glabrata |
OR
CalFlora
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
