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branching conyza, dwarf horseweed

conyza, horseweed

Habit Plants spreading, 5–25+ cm, branched throughout (stems usually ± strigose). Annuals [perennials], 10–120(–350+) cm.
Stems

usually erect, branched mostly distally (spreading and branched throughout in C. ramosissima), glabrous or hispid, hispidulous, strigillose, or strigose.

Leaves

faces closely strigose;

proximal blades narrowly spatulate to linear, 5–15+ × 0.5–2(–3+) mm;

distal similar, smaller, narrower.

basal and cauline (mostly cauline at flowering); alternate; petiolate or sessile;

blades mostly lanceolate to oblanceolate or linear, margins rarely lobed, ultimate toothed or entire, faces usually hispid, hispidulous, strigillose, or strigose (eglandular).

Involucres

3–4 mm.

± turbinate, 2–5[–7+] mm diam.

Receptacles

0.7–1 mm diam. in fruit.

± flat, pitted or smooth, epaleate.

Pistillate florets

20–30;

corollas ± equaling or surpassing styles, laminae 0.3–0.8 mm.

Disc florets

3–8.

3–30+, bisexual, fertile;

corollas yellowish (nerves sometimes prominently resinous), tubes shorter than narrowly funnelform throats, lobes 5, erect or spreading, deltate;

style-branch appendages deltate.

Phyllaries

glabrous or glabrate;

outer greenish to purplish, lanceolate, shorter, sparsely strigose;

inner stramineous to purplish, linear-attenuate (more scarious).

20–40+ in 2–4 series, appressed (usually reflexed in fruit), the larger usually 3-nerved (midnerves orange to brownish; not notably keeled), lanceolate to linear, unequal, ± herbaceous medially, margins membranous, abaxial faces glabrous or hirsutulous, hispidulous, or strigose.

Heads

in loose, corymbiform arrays or borne ± singly.

radiate or disciform, usually in spreading to strict, paniculiform or corymbiform arrays (borne ± singly in C. ramosissima).

Cypselae

pale tan, 1–1.5 mm, faces sparsely strigillose or glabrous;

pappi of 20–30, tawny to pinkish bristles 2–2.5 mm.

compressed, oblong to elliptic, 1-nerved on each edge, faces glabrous or strigillose (hairs 0.05–0.1+ mm), eglandular;

pappi persistent, of 15–25+ pinkish, sordid, tawny, or white, ± equal, barbellulate, apically attenuate bristles in 1 series.

Peripheral

(“ray”) florets pistillate, fertile: either 20–45+ in 1–2+ series, corollas white to purplish (filiform with laminae filiform to elliptic, 0.1–1[–1.5+] mm), or 20–150+ in 2–5+ series, corollas ochroleucous (filiform, laminae lacking, distally truncate or 2–5-toothed).

x

= 9.

2n

= 18.

Conyza ramosissima

Conyza

Phenology Flowering late spring–early fall.
Habitat Disturbed sites, usually in heavy clay soils
Elevation 100–800 m (300–2600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; IA; IL; IN; KS; LA; MN; MO; MS; ND; NE; NM; OH; OK; PA; SD; TX; WI
[WildflowerSearch map]
from USDA
Widespread; mostly in subtropical and warm-temperate zones
Discussion

Species 25–40+ (4 in the flora).

Distinctions between Conyza and Erigeron, as usually circumscribed in the past 50+ years, are not always clear. Usually, conyzas have unequal (graduated) phyllaries and 2–20+ times as many pistillate florets as bisexual florets in each head (rarely more bisexual than pistillate), and corollas of pistillate florets either lack laminae or have laminae usually less than 1(–1.5) mm. Erigerons usually have subequal phyllaries and more bisexual than pistillate florets (rarely more pistillate than bisexual) and corollas of pistillate florets (if any) usually have laminae 2–10+ mm.

In studies by R. D. Noyes (2000) and by Noyes and L. H. Rieseberg (1999), Conyza, as traditionally circumscribed, was found to be nested within Erigeron and to be para- and/or polyphyletic. Here, absent an alternate taxonomy, four species traditionally treated in Conyza are retained in Conyza and a separate suite of six species that have usually been included in Conyza are treated in Laënnecia.

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

Key
1. Plants spreading, 5–25 cm, branched throughout (stems usually ± strigose); receptacles 0.7–1 mm diam. in fruit
C. ramosissima
1. Plants erect, (10–)30–350+ cm, branched mostly distally; receptacles 1–5 mm diam. in fruit
→ 2
2. Phyllaries usually hispidulous or strigose; receptacles 3–5 mm diam. in fruit; pistillate florets 60–150+; pappi 3–4+ mm
C. bonariensis
2. Phyllaries glabrous or sparsely strigose; receptacles 1–3 mm diam. in fruit; pistillate florets 20–45+; pappi 2–3 mm
→ 3
3. Phyllaries usually sparsely strigose; corollas of pistillate florets with laminae 0 or to 0.3 mm; cypselae pale tan (usually some in each head with reddish nerves)
C. floribunda
3. Phyllaries usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely strigose; corollas of pistillate florets with laminae 0.3–1+ mm; cypselae uniformly pale tan to light gray-brown
C. canadensis
Source FNA vol. 20, p. 349. FNA vol. 20, p. 348. Author: John L. Strother.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Conyza Asteraceae > tribe Astereae
Sibling taxa
C. bonariensis, C. canadensis, C. floribunda
Subordinate taxa
C. bonariensis, C. canadensis, C. floribunda, C. ramosissima
Synonyms Erigeron divaricatus
Name authority Cronquist: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 70: 632. (1943) Lessing: Syn. Gen. Compos., 203. (1832)
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