Gamochaeta calviceps
Gamochaeta sphacelata
narrowleaf purple everlasting
owl's crown
erect, ascending (usually branched ± throughout), subpannose (hairs silver-gray, longitudinally arranged).
erect to ascending, densely gray-white pannose.
mostly cauline, basal usually withering before flowering, blades spatulate to oblanceolate, mostly 2–6 cm × 2–9 mm (becoming linear-oblanceolate to linear distally, commonly folded along midveins), faces concolor or weakly bicolor, subpannose (hairs closely appressed).
basal and cauline, basal usually withering before flowering;
blades linear to narrowly oblanceolate (often folded along midveins), 1–4 cm × 1–3(–5) mm (distally becoming ± patent, arcuate bracts surpassing the heads), faces concolor or weakly bicolor, pannose-tomentose (± equally grayish to whitish, basal cells of hairs on adaxial faces persistent, expanded, glassy).
campanulate, 3–3.5 mm, bases usually glabrous or glabrate.
cylindro-campanulate, 3.5–4(–5) mm, sparsely arachnose.
bisexual 2–4; all corollas purple distally.
bisexual 3–5; all corollas usually purplish distally.
in 5–7 series, outer ovate-triangular, lengths 1/3–1/2 inner, apices acute-acuminate (involute and spreading to recurved), inner oblong, laminae slightly brown (not purple), apices obtuse-apiculate.
in (3–)4–5 series, outer triangular, lengths 1/3–1/2 inner, apices (brown) acute-acuminate (usually inrolled and spreading or recurved), inner triangular-lanceolate, laminae purplish (in bud) to whitish or silvery (in fruit), apices (usually striate) acute (not apiculate).
initially in continuous or interrupted, spiciform arrays, 2–4 cm × 8–12 mm (pressed), later in paniculiform arrays 4–18 cm (main axes usually visible between heads, peduncles usually evident).
in terminal glomerules 1 cm or in interrupted, spiciform arrays 2–14 cm × 10–12(–14) mm (pressed; glomerules sometimes axillary).
(tan) 0.4–0.5 mm.
(tan) 0.5–0.6 mm.
Gamochaeta calviceps
Gamochaeta sphacelata
Gamochaeta calviceps is recognized by its subpannose cauline and foliar indument (perhaps intermediate between the looser tomentum of G. antillana and the tight, pannose covering of G. argyrinea) and the contrast of its spatulate proximal leaves with the much narrower cauline ones, glabrous or glabrescent involucres, and phyllaries in 5–7 series, lacking purple color, the outer and mid with acute-acuminate apices commonly becoming subulate (by inrolled margins). The distal cauline leaves usually are folded along the midveins (at least when pressed). The relatively late flowering also is distinctive. Plants on the Atlantic coastal plain usually produce 2–3 bisexual florets per head, those on the Gulf coast 3–4.
Heads of older plants are borne in paniculiform arrays resulting from development of lateral branches, the heads usually on evident peduncles and with very little tomentum at the base of the outer phyllaries, thus appearing discrete. In early-season plants, lateral branches may not have formed or lengthened and the arrays of heads may appear continuous-cylindric at stem apices; in such plants, the species can usually still be recognized by the relatively numerous, relatively shorter, axillary shoots along the main stems.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Gamochaeta sphacelata is recognized by its linear to narrowly oblanceolate, concolor leaves, interrupted, spiciform arrays of heads in compact axillary glomerules or on lateral branches, glomerules subtended by ± patent, arcuate bracts, dark brown involucres, and acute-acuminate, recurving tips of outer and mid phyllaries. Roots are typically lignescent taproots. As in G. purpurea, the basal cells of each hair on adaxial leaf faces are persistent, expanded, and glassy.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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