Flora of North America species comparison

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Gamochaeta ustulata

featherweed, Pacific cudweed, purple cudweed, spoon-leaf cudweed
Habit Annuals, biennials, or perennials, 10–40 cm; fibrous-rooted.
Stems

erect to ascending (commonly decumbent-ascending and rhizome like), densely white-pannose.
Leaves

basal and cauline, basal usually withering before flowering, blades spatulate to oblanceolate, 2–5 cm × 6–12(–35) mm (little smaller distally), faces bicolor, abaxial white-pannose, adaxial sparsely to densely arachnose-tomentose.
Involucres

campanulo-urceolate, 4.5–5 mm, bases sparsely arachnose.
Florets

bisexual (3–)4–6; all corollas usually yellowish, sometimes purplish distally.
Phyllaries

in 4–6 series, outer (brown or greenish brown) broadly ovate-triangular, lengths ca. 1/2 inner, apices acute to acute-acuminate (mid phyllaries ± keeled near apices), inner oblong, laminae usually dark brown, sometimes purplish (at stereome-lamina junction), apices rounded to obtuse, apiculate.
Heads

in usually continuous, rarely interrupted (proximally), cylindric arrays 1–6(–8+) cm × 12–18 mm (pressed).
Cypselae

(tan to brownish) 0.7–0.8 mm.

Gamochaeta ustulata
Phenology Flowering Apr–Jul(–Oct).
Habitat Mostly coastal and near-coastal sites, dunes, ocean bluffs, sandy fields, and roadsides, clay-loam, roadcuts, ditches, cliffs, pine woods, chaparral slopes, tidal marsh edges
Elevation 0–700(–1100) m (0–2300(–3600) ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Gamochaeta ustulata usually has been included in G. purpurea; it differs mostly in its longer duration, thicker and shorter stems, larger, more compact arrays of larger, brown heads, and aspects of phyllary morphology.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 435.
Parent taxa 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. stachydifolia, G. stagnalis
Synonyms Gnaphalium ustulatum, Gnaphalium pannosum, Gnaphalium purpureum var. ustulatum
Name authority (Nuttall) Holub: Folia Geobot. Phytotax. 11: 83. (1976)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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