Flora of North America species comparison

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Pluchea carolinensis

cough bush, cure-for-all, sourbrush, sourbush, wild tobacco
Habit Subshrubs, 100–400 cm; tap-rooted.
Stems

matted-villous with viscid, vitreous hairs, proximally glabrescent, not evidently glandular.
Leaves

petiolate (petioles 10–40 mm);

blades (thickish, strongly bicolor) elliptic to oblong-obovate or ovate, 5–16(–20) × 2–6(–8) cm, margins entire or denticulate (teeth callous-tipped), abaxial faces moderately or sparsely matted-villous to crinkly-puberulent, adaxial (green) glabrate.
Involucres

broadly campanulate to cupulate, 4.5–6 × 5–10 mm.
Corollas

whitish to pink-lavender.
Phyllaries

greenish to creamy or tan, sometimes slightly purple, glandular-tomentose.
Heads

in dense, corymbiform arrays (held beyond the leaves, axes minutely bracteate, bracts abruptly differentiated from cauline leaves).
Pappi

tardily falling, bristles distinct.
2n

= 20.

Pluchea carolinensis
Phenology Late Feb–Jun.
Habitat Roadsides, borders of hammocks
Elevation 0 m (0 ft)
Distribution
from USDA
Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; Bermuda [Introduced, Fla.; introduced in Pacific Islands]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Pluchea carolinensis is naturalized in the Hawaiian Islands and other Pacific Islands.

The names Pluchea odorata of authors, not (Linnaeus) Cassini, and P. symphytifolia of authors, not Conyza symphytifolia Miller in the sense of W. T. Gillis (1977), have been used for plants here called Pluchea carolinensis. The taxon was long identified as P. odorata (R. K. Godfrey 1952) and was known as P. [Conyza] symphytifolia (Miller) Gillis for a while. Conyza symphytifolia Miller is a synonym of Neurolaena lobata (Linnaeus) Cassini (R. Khan and C. E. Jarvis 1989).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 480.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Plucheeae > Pluchea
Sibling taxa
P. baccharis, P. camphorata, P. foetida, P. longifolia, P. odorata, P. sagittalis, P. sericea, P. yucatanensis
Synonyms Conyza carolinensis
Name authority (Jacquin) G. Don: in R. Sweet, Hort Brit. ed. 3, 350. (1839)
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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