Eupatorium semiserratum
Eupatorium petaloideum
smallflower eupatorium, smallflower thoroughwort
showy white thoroughwort
(from short rhizomes) single, densely branched distally, puberulent throughout.
(from short, stout rhizomes) single, branched distally, puberulent.
usually opposite (distal sometimes alternate, lateral buds dormant or producing 1 pair of leaves); simple, sessile or subsessile;
blades ± 3-nerved distal to bases, elliptic to lance-elliptic, (30–)50–70 × 5–25 mm (lengths mostly 2–5 times widths), bases narrowly cuneate, margins usually serrate, apices acute, faces puberulent or villous, densely 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.
5;
corollas 2.5–3 mm.
(4–)5;
corollas 3–3.5 mm.
7–10 in 2–3 series, elliptic, 1–3 × 0.5–1 mm, apices rounded to acute (not mucronate), abaxial faces puberulent, 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.
1.5–2 mm;
pappi of 30–40 bristles 2.5–3 mm.
2.5–3 mm;
pappi of 40–50 bristles 3.5–4 mm.
= 20.
= 20.
Eupatorium semiserratum
Eupatorium petaloideum
Eupatorium semiserratum has been included within E. glaucescens (E. cuneifolium); it is distinguished by its consistently smaller heads and stems that branch only within the capitulescences. It differs from the similar and sometimes sympatric E. lancifolium by its smaller heads, leaves 3-nerved distal to bases (rather than at bases), as well as preference for wetter habitats. It has been proposed that E. rotundifolium var. scabridum (E. pubescens) represents hybrids between E. semiserratum and E. rotundifolium; it also apparently hybridizes with E. hyssopifolium.
(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.)
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