Flora of North America species comparison

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Pseudognaphalium leucocephalum

Pseudognaphalium luteoalbum

white cudweed, white rabbit-tobacco

Jersey cudweed, Jersey rabbit tobacco, red-tip rabbit-tobacco, weedy cudweed
Habit Biennials or short-lived perennials, 30–60 cm; taprooted. Annuals, 15–40 cm; taprooted or fibrous-rooted.
Stems

densely and persistently white-tomentose, usually with stipitate-glandular hairs protruding through tomentum.

loosely white-tomentose, not glandular.
Leaf

blades (crowded, internodes mostly 1–3, sometimes to 10 mm) linear-lanceolate, 3–7 cm × 1–5(–6) mm, bases subclasping, not decurrent, margins strongly revolute, faces bicolor, abaxial densely white-tomentose, adaxial green, densely stipitate-glandular.

blades (crowded, internodes 1–5, sometimes to 10 mm) narrowly obovate to subspatulate, 1–3(–6) cm × 2–8 mm (distal smaller, oblanceolate to narrowly oblong or linear), bases subclasping, usually decurrent 1–2 mm, margins weakly revolute, faces mostly concolor to weakly bicolor, abaxial gray-tomentose, adaxial usually gray-tomentose, sometimes glabrescent, neither glandular.
Involucres

broadly campanulate, 5–6 mm.

broadly campanulate, 3–4 mm.
Pistillate florets

66–85.

135–160.
Bisexual florets

(6–14, California)29–44.

5–10 (corollas red-tipped).
Phyllaries

in 5–7 series, bright white (opaque, dull), oblong to oblong-ovate, glabrous.

in 3–4 series, silvery gray to yellowish (hyaline), ovate to ovate-oblong, glabrous.
Heads

in corymbiform arrays.

in terminal glomerules (1–2 cm diam.).
Cypselae

ridged, smooth.

not evidently ridged (conspicuously dotted with whitish, papilliform hairs; pappus bristles loosely coherent basally, released in clusters or easily fragmented rings).
2n

= 28.

= 14, 16, 28.

Pseudognaphalium leucocephalum

Pseudognaphalium luteoalbum
Phenology Flowering (Jul–)Aug–Nov(–Dec). Flowering Apr–Oct.
Habitat Sandy or gravelly slopes, stream bottoms, arroyos, areas of oak-sycamore, oak-pine, to pine woodlands, commonly in riparian vegetation Roadsides, fields and pastures, ditches, streambanks, seasonal ponds, gardens, and other disturbed sites
Elevation 50–2100 m (200–6900 ft) 5–2000 m (0–6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NM; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Durango, Sinaloa, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AR; AZ; CA; FL; LA; NM; NV; NY; OR; TX; UT; WA; Mexico; Europe; Asia; Africa; Pacific Islands (New Zealand); Australia [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

Pseudognaphalium leucocephalum is similar to P. viscosum, which has shiny, hyaline, ovate-lanceolate phyllaries, 200–250 pistillate florets, (13–)16–29 bisexual florets, and papillate-roughened cypselae. Some plants of P. leucocephalum also appear to approach P. biolettii in general appearance, and it is possible that some of them may represent hybrids. Plants of P. biolettii differ from P. leucocephalum in their typically eglandular stems, broader, basally ampliate, clasping, more widely spaced, and less densely glandular leaves, and thinner, shiny phyllaries.

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

Pseudognaphalium luteoalbum is native to Eurasia. It is similar in overall habit to P. stramineum but distinctive in its larger heads and red-tipped corollas (visible through the translucent phyllaries). Cypselae of P. luteoalbum have papilliform hairs; cypselae of other North American species of Pseudognaphalium are glabrous.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 423. FNA vol. 19, p. 418.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Gnaphalieae > Pseudognaphalium Asteraceae > tribe Gnaphalieae > Pseudognaphalium
Sibling taxa
P. arizonicum, P. austrotexanum, P. beneolens, P. biolettii, P. californicum, P. canescens, P. helleri, P. jaliscense, P. luteoalbum, P. macounii, P. micradenium, P. microcephalum, P. obtusifolium, P. pringlei, P. ramosissimum, P. roseum, P. saxicola, P. stramineum, P. thermale, P. viscosum
P. arizonicum, P. austrotexanum, P. beneolens, P. biolettii, P. californicum, P. canescens, P. helleri, P. jaliscense, P. leucocephalum, P. macounii, P. micradenium, P. microcephalum, P. obtusifolium, P. pringlei, P. ramosissimum, P. roseum, P. saxicola, P. stramineum, P. thermale, P. viscosum
Synonyms Gnaphalium leucocephalum Gnaphalium luteoalbum
Name authority (A. Gray) Anderberg: Opera Bot. 104: 147. (1991) (Linnaeus) Hilliard & B. L. Burtt: Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 82: 206. (1981)
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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