Flora of North America species comparison

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

Hymenopappus scabiosaeus

Hymenopappus filifolius

Carolina woollywhite, old plainsman

Columbia cut-leaf, fineleaf hymenopappus, white ragweed
Habit Biennials, 40–150 cm. Perennials, 5–10 cm.
Leaves

basal simple (5–20 mm wide) or 1(–2)-pinnate, 5–25 cm, lobes (3–)5–20+ × (1–)2–8+ mm;

cauline 15–50.

basal 2-pinnate, 3–20 cm, lobes 2–50 × 0.5–2(–3) mm;

cauline 0–12.
Peduncles

1–5 cm.

1–16 cm.
Ray florets

0.

0.
Disc florets

20–80;

corollas whitish, 3–5.5 mm, tubes 2–3 mm, throats funnelform, 1–3 mm, lengths ± 1 times lobes.

10–80;

corollas usually yellowish, sometimes whitish, 2.2–7 mm, tubes 1–2.5 mm, throats campanulate, 1–3 mm, lengths 2–8 times lobes.
Phyllaries

white to yellowish, 5–15 × 2–8 mm.

whitish to yellowish, 3–14 × 2–5 mm.
Heads

(20–)40–100 per stem.

1–60 per stem.
Cypselae

3–5 mm, ± hirtellous;

pappi of 14–18 scales 0.1–1 mm.

3–7 mm, ± hirtellous to villous;

pappi of 12–22 scales 0.1–3 mm.

Hymenopappus scabiosaeus

Hymenopappus filifolius
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; IL; IN; KS; MO; MS; NE; OK; SC; TX; n Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; KS; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; TX; UT; WA; WY; AB; SK; n Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

Morphologic distinctions between varieties of Hymenopappus scabiosaeus as treated by B. L. Turner (1956) fail for some specimens.

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

Varieties 13 (13 in the flora).

Some plants are morphologically intermediate between some pairs of varieties of Hymenopappus filifolius as treated by B. L. Turner (1956).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Peduncles usually subtended by ± membranous bracts 5–14 × 3–10 mm; phyllaries whitish, 7–15 × 4–8 mm
var. scabiosaeus
1. Peduncles not subtended by bracts, or bracts not membranous, 3–5+ × 1–3+ mm; phyllaries whitish to yellowish, 5–9 × 2–4 mm
var. corymbosus
1. Axils of basal leaves glabrous or sparsely tomentose; cauline leaves 0 or 1(–2)
→ 2
1. Axils of basal leaves ± densely tomentose; cauline leaves (0–)2–12
→ 3
2. Peduncles 1–2 cm; corollas 2–3 mm; anthers 2 mm; cypselae 3.5–4 mm
var. parvulus
2. Peduncles 2–10 cm; corollas 3–5 mm; anthers 2.5–3 mm; cypselae 4–6 mm
var. nudipes
3. Terminal lobes of basal leaves 2–6 mm; phyllaries 3–7 mm; florets 10–30; corollas 2–3 mm
→ 4
3. Terminal lobes of basal leaves (2–)3–50 mm; phyllaries (5–)6–14 mm; florets (15–)20–70+; corollas (2.5–)3–7 mm.
→ 5
4. Plants 5–20 cm; cauline leaves 0–3; pappi 0.1–0.8 mm
var. luteus
4. Plants 20–35 cm; cauline leaves 4–9; pappi 0.5–1.5 mm
var. pauciflorus
5. Corollas 4–7 mm, throat lengths (2–)3–8 times lobes; anthers 3–4 mm; cypselae 5–7 mm; pappi (1.2–)1.5–3 mm
→ 6
5. Corollas 2.5–4.5 mm, throat lengths 2–4(–5) times lobes; anthers 2–3 mm; cypselae 4–6 mm; pappi 0.2–2(–3) mm
→ 8
6. Peduncles 8–16 cm; corollas whitish; cypselahairs 0.5–1 mm
var. eriopodus
6. Peduncles 2–12 cm; corollas yellowish; cypsela hairs 1–2 mm
→ 7
7. Cauline leaves (1–)2–6; terminal lobes of basal leaves 5–30 mm; phyllaries 8–12(–14)mm
var. megacephalus
7. Cauline leaves 0–3; terminal lobes of basal leaves 3–15 mm; phyllaries 6–10 mm
var. lugens
8. Cauline leaves (2–)3–8; heads 5–60; corolla throats 1.3–1.8 mm
var. polycephalus
8. Cauline leaves 0–5(–12); heads 1–10(–40); corolla throats 1.5–2.5 mm
→ 9
9. Terminal lobes of basal leaves 3–6 mm; caul-ine leaves 5–12
var. tomentosus
9. Terminal lobes of basal leaves 2–50 mm; cauline leaves 0–5
→ 10
10. Plants 30–100 cm; terminal lobes of basal leaves 15–50 mm; pappi 0.2–1 mm
var. filifolius
10. Plants 5–50 cm; terminal lobes of basal leaves 2–30 mm; pappi (0.6–)1–3 mm
→ 11
11. Peduncles 3–15 cm; cypsela hairs 0.1–1 mm; pappi 1.5–3 mm
var. nanus
11. Peduncles 1–6 cm; cypsela hairs 1–3 mm; pappi 0.6–2 mm
→ 12
12. Cauline leaves 0–2; cypsela hairs 1 mm; pappi 0.6–1.3 mm
var. idahoensis.
12. Cauline leaves (0–)2–4; cypsela hairs 1–3 mm; pappi 1.5–2 mm
H. filifolius
Source FNA vol. 21, p. 315. FNA vol. 21, p. 311.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Hymenopappinae > Hymenopappus Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Hymenopappinae > Hymenopappus
Sibling taxa
H. artemisiifolius, H. biennis, H. carrizoanus, H. filifolius, H. flavescens, H. mexicanus, H. newberryi, H. radiatus, H. tenuifolius
H. artemisiifolius, H. biennis, H. carrizoanus, H. flavescens, H. mexicanus, H. newberryi, H. radiatus, H. scabiosaeus, H. tenuifolius
Subordinate taxa
H. scabiosaeus var. corymbosus, H. scabiosaeus var. scabiosaeus
H. filifolius, H. filifolius var. eriopodus, H. filifolius var. filifolius, H. filifolius var. idahoensis., H. filifolius var. lugens, H. filifolius var. luteus, H. filifolius var. megacephalus, H. filifolius var. nanus, H. filifolius var. nudipes, H. filifolius var. parvulus, H. filifolius var. pauciflorus, H. filifolius var. polycephalus, H. filifolius var. tomentosus
Name authority L’Héritier: Hymenopappus, plate. 1788 Hooker: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 317. (1833)
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).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers