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waxy thoroughwort

Habit Perennials, 30–100+ cm.
Stems

(from short caudices) single or multiple, branched at or near bases, pubescent throughout.

Leaves

usually opposite (distal sometimes alternate);

sessile or subsessile;

blades 3-nerved distal to bases, oblong to lance-oblong, 20–45 × 5–10 mm, bases cuneate, margins entire or serrate (teeth mostly proximal), apices acute, faces finely puberulent, gland-dotted.

Florets

5;

corollas 3–3.5 mm.

Phyllaries

8–10 in 1–2 series, lanceolate (tapering toward apices), 2–5 × 0.5–1 mm, apices rounded to acute, abaxial faces puberulent, gland-dotted.

Heads

in corymbiform arrays.

Cypselae

2.5–3 mm;

pappi of 30–40 bristles 3–5 mm.

2n

= 20, 30, 40.

Eupatorium linearifolium

Phenology Flowering Jul–Sep.
Habitat Dry, sandy soils, pine and oak woods, old fields
Elevation 20–100+ m (100–300+ ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; DE; FL; GA; MS; NC; SC; TX
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Plants treated here as Eupatorium linearifolium were long treated under the name E. cuneifolium; the latter name was superfluous when published (K. N. Gandhi and R. D. Thomas 1991). Because there appears to be a continuous range of variation between diploids that were referred to by V. I. Sullivan (1972) as E. cuneifolium and the series of putative hybrids (with E. hyssopifolium suggested as the other parent) that she called E. linearifolium, these are combined here. The tendency for the plants to branch at or near the bases is distinctive within Eupatorium.

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

Source FNA vol. 21, p. 470.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Eupatorieae > Eupatorium
Sibling taxa
E. album, E. altissimum, E. anomalum, E. cannabinum, E. capillifolium, E. compositifolium, E. godfreyanum, E. hyssopifolium, E. lancifolium, E. leptophyllum, E. leucolepis, E. mikanioides, E. mohrii, E. perfoliatum, E. petaloideum, E. pilosum, E. resinosum, E. rotundifolium, E. semiserratum, E. serotinum, E. sessilifolium, E. ×cordigerum, E. ×pinnatifidum
Synonyms E. cuneifolium, E. glaucescens, E. tortifolium
Name authority Walter: Fl. Carol., 199. (1788)
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