Baccharis salicina
Baccharis bigelovii
Great Plains false willow, willow-baccharis
Bigelow's false willow
ascending, striate-angled, glabrous, smooth or minutely roughened, resinous.
erect to ascending, slender, striate-angled, glabrous, resinous.
present at flowering (numerous and well developed); short-petiolate;
blades (at least broader distinctly 3-nerved) oblong to oblanceolate, 25–70 × 5–10(–20) mm, bases tapering attenuate, margins usually serrate distally (teeth 1–3, coarse irregular, ca. 5 mm apart), sometimes entire, apices acute or obtuse, faces finely gland-dotted.
present at flowering; short-petiolate;
blades (1- or obscurely 3-nerved) obovate to oblanceolate, 20–35 × 3–15 mm, distally reduced and narrowed, bases cuneate, margins irregularly incised to coarsely serrate or 2-serrate, faces glabrous, gland-dotted, resinous.
narrowly obconic to campanulate;
staminate 4–7 mm, pistillate 5–9 mm.
campanulate;
staminate 4–5 mm, pistillate 4–5 mm.
25–30;
corollas 3–4 mm.
25–30;
corollas 2–2.6 mm.
20–25;
corollas 3–5 mm.
15–20;
corollas 3.5–4 mm.
lanceolate, 2–6 mm, margins scarious, medians green or reddish, apices greenish or purplish, often erose-ciliate, faces glabrous, gland-dotted, resinous.
lanceolate, 1–4 mm, margins scarious, medians green, apices acute, erose.
(100–200+, short-pedunculate or sessile) in (large, crowded, leafy) paniculiform arrays.
(20–50) in corymbiform arrays.
1.2–2 mm, irregularly 8–10-nerved, glabrous;
pappi 8–12 mm (elongating in fruit).
1.5–2.2 mm, 5-nerved, glabrous;
pappi 3–4.5 mm.
Baccharis salicina
Baccharis bigelovii
Baccharis salicina is recognized by its narrow, gland-dotted leaves with 1–3 irregular teeth on the distal half, heads in loose leafy arrays, campanulate involucres, and cypselae with 8–10 ribs.
The recognition of Baccharis emoryi as a separate species in other floras has been based on its wider, glabrous, eglandular leaves, more cylindric pistillate involucres, and dense whitish pappi. It was said to occur both west of the Rocky Mountains and in western Texas. In our study, expressions of the characters used to distinguish B. emoryi from other species were found to be inconsistent and inadequate to warrant recognition as a distinct species. There appears to be a complex of up to four species—emoryi, salicina, neglecta and angustifolia—that intergrade from west to east. Characteristics progress from broader leaves and larger heads (emoryi form of salicina) to narrow leaves with small heads (neglecta, angustifolia). The delimitation of taxa within this complex merits further investigation.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Baccharis bigelovii occurs in the general Chihuahuan Desert region in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, and in the Chiricahua and Huachuca mountains of Arizona. It is recognized by the relatively short stature, obovate, coarsely and irregularly serrate leaves, erose-ciliate phyllaries, and 5-nerved cypselae. It is similar to B. thesioides, which differs mainly by having narrower, more oblong leaves with more evenly serrate margins and spinulose teeth. Further investigation may show these two taxa to be different geographic expressions of a single species centered in Mexico.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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