Baccharis texana
Baccharis salicifolia
prairie baccharis or false willow, prairie false willow
mule's fat, mule-fat, seepwillow, water wally
simple, erect or procumbent, rigid (woody proximally), herbaceous and leafy distally (dying back annually), striate-angled, glabrous, non-resinous.
spreading to ascending, green to tan, simple proximally, sparingly branched distally, striate-angled, glabrous or minutely hairy, resinous and ± resin-varnished.
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).
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.
campanulate;
staminate 4–7 mm, pistillate 7–9 mm.
hemispheric;
staminate 3–6 mm, pistillate involucres 3–6 mm.
20–30;
corollas 3.5–4 mm.
50–150;
corollas 2–3.5 mm.
15–20;
corollas 4–5 mm.
(10–)17–48;
corollas 4–6 mm.
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).
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).
(on short peduncles) in loose corymbiform arrays.
in terminal, compound corymbiform arrays (often involving distal branches).
3–5 mm, prominently 6–8-nerved, glabrous;
pappi 11–14 mm.
0.8–1.5 mm, 5-nerved, glabrous;
pappi 3–6 mm.
= 18, 36.
Baccharis texana
Baccharis salicifolia
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.)
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.)
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