Eupatorium album
Eupatorium petaloideum
white thoroughwort
showy white thoroughwort
(from short caudices or stout rhizomes) single, sparsely branched distally, pubescent throughout.
(from short, stout rhizomes) single, branched distally, puberulent.
usually opposite (distal sometimes alternate);
sessile;
blades ± 3-nerved or pinnately nerved, elliptic to oblanceolate, 30–120 × 10–40 mm (lengths mostly 3–4 times widths), bases narrowly cuneate (sometimes oblique), margins subentire, serrate, or serrulate, apices rounded to acute, faces setulose (denser on midribs and veinlets) to glabrate, usually gland-dotted.
usually opposite (distal sometimes alternate);
sessile;
blades pinnately nerved, elliptic to ovate, 20–80 × 10–30 mm, bases cuneate, margins serrate to crenate-serrate, apices rounded to acute, faces sparsely villous (abaxial), glabrate (adaxial), little, if at all, gland-dotted.
(4–)5;
corollas 4–4.5 mm.
(4–)5;
corollas 3–3.5 mm.
9–15 in 2–4 series, linear, 1.5–9 × 0.6–1 mm, apices acuminate to attenuate, sometimes mucronate, abaxial faces pubescent throughout, gland-dotted.
9–15 in 2–4 series, linear, 4–10 × 0.6–1 mm, apices (white) acuminate to attenuate, strongly mucronate, abaxial faces glabrous, not gland-dotted.
in corymbiform arrays.
in corymbiform arrays.
2.5–3.5 mm;
pappi of 40–50 bristles 3.5–4.5 mm.
2.5–3 mm;
pappi of 40–50 bristles 3.5–4 mm.
= 20.
Eupatorium album
Eupatorium petaloideum
Varieties 3 (3 in the flora).
Eupatorium album is represented by widespread diploid populations and by polyploid, apomictic populations, segregated as varieties, that may have arisen by hybridization with other species. Molecular data suggest that var. vaseyi arose via hybridization between var. album and E. sessilifolium. They also suggest that E. album var. subvenosum arose from hybridization between E. album var. album and E. serotinum.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Eupatorium petaloideum is commonly combined with E. album; it has recently been separated as a distinct variety. V. I. Sullivan (1972) found the two taxa to be distinct chemically and to occupy different habitats. In both, the involucral bracts are white and long-acuminate or mucronate; those of E. petaloideum are almost entirely devoid of any pubescence including glands and those of E. album have both simple and glandular hairs.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaf blades: margins coarsely serrate, apices obtuse to rounded, faces pubescent | var. album |
1. Leaf blades: margins subentire, serrulate, or serrate, apices acute, faces pubescent to glabrate | → 2 |
2. Leaf blades 3-nerved from bases, 40–70 × 10–20 mm, margins subentire to serrulate | var. subvenosum |
2. Leaf blades 3-nerved distal to bases, 50–110 × 20–40 mm, margins evenly serrate | var. vaseyi |
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