The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

narrowleaf purple everlasting

Habit Annuals, 4–15 cm; taprooted. Annuals, 8–45(–55) cm; taprooted or fibrous-rooted.
Stems

erect, densely and loosely gray-white tomentose-arachnose.

erect, ascending (usually branched ± throughout), subpannose (hairs silver-gray, longitudinally arranged).

Leaves

basal and cauline, basal mostly withering before flowering, blades oblanceolate, 1–3 cm × 2–6 mm (usually folded along midveins, bases subclasping, not auriculate; nearly unreduced among proximal heads, none longer than glomerules), faces concolor, tomentose-arachnose.

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).

Involucres

campanulate, 3.5–4 mm, bases sparsely tomentose.

campanulate, 3–3.5 mm, bases usually glabrous or glabrate.

Florets

bisexual 2–4; all corollas yellowish.

bisexual 2–4; all corollas purple distally.

Phyllaries

in 4–5 series, outer narrowly ovate-triangular, lengths ca. 1/3 inner, apices acute to acute-acuminate, inner oblong, laminae tan to brownish (not purple), apices (brownish) rounded-apiculate.

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.

Heads

in continuous cylindric arrays 2–3(–4) cm × 10–12 mm (pressed).

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).

Cypselae

not seen.

(tan) 0.4–0.5 mm.

Gamochaeta stachydifolia

Gamochaeta calviceps

Phenology Flowering Mar–May. Flowering (Apr–)May–Jul.
Habitat Hillsides, riparian woodlands, disturbed sites, sandy soils Disturbed sites, sandy or clay soils, roadsides, fields, clearing and edges of woods, flower beds
Elevation 30–500 m (100–1600 ft) 0–500 m (0–1600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; South America [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; CA; LA; MS; NC; OK; SC; TX; VA; South America; Europe; Pacific Islands (New Zealand)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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.)

Source FNA vol. 19, p. 437. FNA vol. 19, p. 436.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Gnaphalieae > Gamochaeta Asteraceae > tribe Gnaphalieae > Gamochaeta
Sibling taxa
G. antillana, G. argyrinea, G. calviceps, G. chionesthes, G. coarctata, G. pensylvanica, G. purpurea, G. simplicicaulis, G. sphacelata, G. stagnalis, G. ustulata
G. antillana, G. argyrinea, G. chionesthes, G. coarctata, G. pensylvanica, G. purpurea, G. simplicicaulis, G. sphacelata, G. stachydifolia, G. stagnalis, G. ustulata
Synonyms Gnaphalium stachydifolium, Gnaphalium purpureum var. stachydifolium Gnaphalium calviceps
Name authority (Lamarck) Cabrera: Bol. Soc. Argent. Bot. 9: 382. (1961) (Fernald) Cabrera: Bol. Soc. Argent. Bot. 9: 368. (1961)
Web links