The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Great Plains false willow, willow-baccharis

prairie baccharis or false willow, prairie false willow

Habit Shrubs, 100–300 cm (much branched). Perennials or subshrubs, 25–60 cm (rhizomatous, bases woody).
Stems

ascending, striate-angled, glabrous, smooth or minutely roughened, resinous.

simple, erect or procumbent, rigid (woody proximally), herbaceous and leafy distally (dying back annually), striate-angled, glabrous, non-resinous.

Leaves

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;

sessile;

blades (1-nerved) linear to narrowly lanceolate, 10–40 × 1–4 mm, bases narrowed, margins minutely undulate, apices acute, faces glabrous, gland-dotted (distal leaves reduced, scalelike).

Involucres

narrowly obconic to campanulate;

staminate 4–7 mm, pistillate 5–9 mm.

campanulate;

staminate 4–7 mm, pistillate 7–9 mm.

Pistillate florets

25–30;

corollas 3–4 mm.

20–30;

corollas 3.5–4 mm.

Staminate florets

20–25;

corollas 3–5 mm.

15–20;

corollas 4–5 mm.

Phyllaries

lanceolate, 2–6 mm, margins scarious, medians green or reddish, apices greenish or purplish, often erose-ciliate, faces glabrous, gland-dotted, resinous.

lanceolate, 1–7 mm, margins scarious, erose-ciliate, medians green (midribs dark, keeled, dilated), apices acute to acuminate (erose-ciliate, abaxial faces glabrous, minutely papillose-gland-dotted).

Heads

(100–200+, short-pedunculate or sessile) in (large, crowded, leafy) paniculiform arrays.

(on short peduncles) in loose corymbiform arrays.

Cypselae

1.2–2 mm, irregularly 8–10-nerved, glabrous;

pappi 8–12 mm (elongating in fruit).

3–5 mm, prominently 6–8-nerved, glabrous;

pappi 11–14 mm.

Baccharis salicina

Baccharis texana

Phenology Flowering May–Nov. Flowering Aug–Nov.
Habitat Stream banks, alkaline meadows, roadsides Dry prairies, hillsides, mesas, brushy flats
Elevation 300–1600 m (1000–5200 ft) 100–200 m (300–700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; KS; NM; NV; OK; TX; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
NM; OK; TX; Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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 texana is recognized by its low, subshrub habit, simple, more or less herbaceous and leafy stems arising from woody bases, narrow leaves with minutely undulate margins, large pedunculate heads, and erose-ciliate phyllaries with dilated midribs.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 20, p. 32. FNA vol. 20, p. 33.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Baccharis Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Baccharis
Sibling taxa
B. angustifolia, B. bigelovii, B. brachyphylla, B. dioica, B. glomeruliflora, B. glutinosa, B. halimifolia, B. havardii, B. malibuensis, B. neglecta, B. pilularis, B. plummerae, B. pteronioides, B. salicifolia, B. sarothroides, B. sergiloides, B. texana, B. thesioides, B. vanessae, B. wrightii
B. angustifolia, B. bigelovii, B. brachyphylla, B. dioica, B. glomeruliflora, B. glutinosa, B. halimifolia, B. havardii, B. malibuensis, B. neglecta, B. pilularis, B. plummerae, B. pteronioides, B. salicifolia, B. salicina, B. sarothroides, B. sergiloides, B. thesioides, B. vanessae, B. wrightii
Synonyms B. salicifolia, B. emoryi Linosyris texana
Name authority Torrey & A. Gray: Fl. N. Amer. 2: 258. (1842) (Torrey & A. Gray) A. Gray: Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 4: 75. (1849)
Web links