Pluchea foetida
Pluchea
stinking camphorweed
camphorweed
(often dark purplish) arachnose, glandular.
erect, simple or branched, seldom winged (see P. sagittalis), usually puberulent to tomentose and stipitate- or sessile-glandular, sometimes glabrous.
sessile;
blades (thick, reticulate-veined) oblong to elliptic, lance-ovate, or ovate, mostly 3–10(–13) × 1–4 cm (bases clasping), margins denticulate (apices rounded to acute), faces minutely sessile-glandular.
cauline, alternate; petiolate or sessile;
blades mostly elliptic, lanceolate, oblanceolate, oblong, obovate, or ovate, bases clasping or not, margins entire or dentate, abaxial faces mostly arachnose, puberulent, sericeous, strigose, or villous and/or stipitate- or sessile-glandular, adaxial similar or glabrate or glabrous.
usually cupulate to campanulate, sometimes turbinate-campanulate, 5–10 × 6–9(–12) mm (bases mostly rounded to impressed, sometimes obtuse).
mostly campanulate, cupulate, cylindric, hemispheric, or turbinate, 3–10(–12) mm diam.
flat, epaleate.
in 3–10+ series, fertile;
corollas creamy white, whitish, yellowish, pinkish, lavender, purplish, or rosy.
2–40+;
corollas creamy white, whitish, yellowish, pinkish, lavender, purplish, or rosy, lobes (4–)5.
creamy white to yellowish or pale pink.
usually creamy white, sometimes cream, greenish, pinkish, rose-purplish, purplish, yellowish, or pale pink, thinly arachnoid-pubescent and sessile-glandular (the outer ovate to ovate-lanceolate, lengths mostly 0.2–0.6 times inner).
persistent or falling, in 3–6+ series, mostly ovate to lanceolate or linear, unequal.
in loose to dense, corymbiform arrays.
disciform, in corymbiform or paniculiform arrays (flat-topped or ± elongate).
oblong-cylindric, ribs 4–8, faces strigillose and/or minutely sessile-glandular or glabrous (in the flora, only P. sericea);
pappi persistent or tardily falling, of distinct or basally connate, barbellate bristles in 1 series.
persistent, bristles distinct.
= 10.
Pluchea foetida
Pluchea
Pluchea foetida var. imbricata has not been treated as distinct from typical P. foetida by recent authors (e.g., A. Cronquist 1980; R. K. Godfrey and J. W. Wooten 1981; R. P. Wunderlin et al. 1996). Although plants similar to the type can be found scattered in Florida and Georgia, a populational integrity does not appear to occur, and intermediate forms exist. Nevertheless, field biologists should be aware of the putative distinctions of var. imbricata to make more critical observations regarding its status.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Species 40–60 (9 in the flora).
As currently treated, Pluchea is a heterogeneous group of species, variable in habit (trees and shrubs to herbs) and foliar, floral, and fruit morphology. The American, primarily herbaceous, species are divided into groups (G. L. Nesom 1989): sect. Pluchea, sect. Amplectifolium G. L. Nesom, and sect. Pterocaulis G. L. Nesom. Among the woody species, segregate genera have been recognized (Tessaria Ruiz & Pavón, Berthelotia de Candolle, Eremohylema A. Nelson); boundaries among segregates have not been clearly drawn.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Distalmost leaves triangular-ovate; heads in tight, rounded clusters at ends of branches; involucres turbinate-campanulate, 9–10 mm; phyllaries pink- ish to rose-purplish | var. imbricata |
1. Distalmost leaves mostly oblong-elliptic; heads in paniculiform arrays of usually flat-topped cymiform clusters; involucres broadly campanulate, 5–8 mm; phyllaries cream to greenish | var. foetida |
1. Shrubs or trees; leaves and stems sericeous, not glandular | P. sericea |
1. Annuals, perennials, or subshrubs; leaves and stems not sericeous, usually glandular | → 2 |
2. Stems (winged by decurrent leaf bases) | P. sagittalis |
2. Stems (not winged, leaf bases sometimes clasping, not decurrent) | → 3 |
3. Leaves petiolate, blades mostly elliptic, lanceolate, oblanceolate, oblong-elliptic, oblong-ovate, or ovate (bases not clasping) | → 4 |
3. Leaves sessile, blades mostly elliptic, lanceolate, oblong, or ovate (bases clasping to subclasping) | → 6 |
4. Subshrubs, 100–400 cm; leaf margins entire or denticulate (teeth callous-tipped). | P. carolinensis |
4. Annuals or perennials, 50–200+ cm; leaf margins serrate | → 5 |
5. Involucres 4–6 × 3–4 mm; phyllaries usually cream, sometimes purplish, usually minutely sessile-glandular, sometimes glabrate (the outermost puberulent); stems usually closely arachose (hairs appressed); arrays of heads paniculiform (of rounded-convex corymbiform clusters terminating branches from distal nodes, arrays usually resulting from strongly ascending, bracteate branches, the central axis longest, first to flower, and, rarely, the only component of an array); leaves petiolate; inland, non-saline habitats | P. camphorata |
5. Involucres 5–6 × 4–8(–10) mm; phyllaries usually cream, sometimes purplish, minutely sessile-glandular (outer also puberulent, hairs multicellular, viscid), sometimes glabrate; stems not arachnose; arrays of heads corymbiform (flat-topped to rounded, often layered, sometimes incorporating relatively long, leafy, lateral branches, clusters of heads terminal on leafy branches, some lateral branches nearly equaling or surpassing central portion); leaves sessile or petiolate; primarily coastal salt marshes, also inland habitats west of Mississippi River | P. odorata |
6. Leaves mostly 8–20 × 3–7 cm; involucres cylindro-campanulate, 9–12 mm (mid phyllaries 2.5–3 mm wide); phyllaries and corollas creamy white. | P. longifolia |
6. Leaves mostly 3–10 × 1–3 cm; involucres turbinate-campanulate to cylindro-campanulate, 5–8 mm (mid phyllaries 1–1.5 mm wide); phyllaries and corollas yellowish or creamy white to lavender, pale pink, pinkish, purplish, or rosy | → 7 |
7. Stems and leaves (slightly succulent, shiny) glandular, otherwise mostly glabrous; involucres 5–6 × 4–5 mm; phyllaries and corollas pink to lavender or cream or pinkish to rosy | P. yucatanensis |
7. Stems and leaves at least puberulent or arachnose as well as glandular; involucres 4–10 × 5–12 mm; phyllaries and corollas rose-pink to purplish, rose-purple, greenish, cream, or creamy white to yellowish, or pale pink | → 8 |
8. Phyllaries and corollas usually creamy white, sometimes cream, greenish, rose-purple, purplish, pale pink, or yellowish; involucres 5–10 × 6–9(–12) mm (bases rounded to impressed); phyllaries thinly arachnose and sessile-glandular | P. foetida |
8. Phyllaries and corollas rose-pink to purplish; involucres 4–6 × 5–9 mm (bases obtuse to barely acute); phyllaries usually arachnose (sometimes also with viscid hairs) | P. baccharis |
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