Flora of North America species comparison

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Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium

Pseudognaphalium beneolens

blunt-leaf rabbit-tobacco, eastern rabbit-tobacco, gnaphale à feuilles obtuses, old field balsam, rabbit-tobacco

cudweed, fragrant rabbit-tobacco, Wright's cudweed
Habit Annuals or winter annuals (sometimes faintly fragrant), (10–)30–100 cm; taprooted. Annuals or short-lived perennials, 30–80(–110) cm; taprooted.
Stems

white-tomentose, sometimes lightly so, usually not glandular, rarely glandular near bases.

persistently tomentose, not glandular.
Leaf

blades linear-lanceolate to elliptic or oblanceolate, 2.5–10 cm × 2–10 mm (relatively even-sized), bases not clasping, not decurrent, margins flat, faces bicolor, abaxial white-tomentose, adaxial green, usually glabrous or slightly glandular, sometimes with persistent light tomentum.

blades mostly linear, 3–6 cm × 1.5–3.5 mm (sometimes smaller distally), bases not clasping, decurrent 5–15 mm, margins flat, faces concolor, loosely tomentose, not glandular.
Involucres

broadly campanulate, 5–7 mm.

turbinate-campanulate, 5–6 mm.
Pistillate florets

38–96.

(39–)44–69.
Bisexual florets

4–8(–11).

5–8(–11).
Phyllaries

in 4–6 series, white (opaque, usually shiny, sometimes dull), ovate to ovate-oblong, glabrous or tomentose (bases).

in (4–)5–6(–7) series, white (opaque, dull to shiny), ovate to ovate-oblong (inner usually with filiform keel and slight apiculum), glabrous.
Heads

in corymbiform (sometimes rounded to elongate) arrays.

usually in loose, paniculiform arrays.
Cypselae

ridged, smooth.

ridged, smooth or weakly papillate-roughened.
2n

= 14.

Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium

Pseudognaphalium beneolens
Phenology Flowering Aug–Oct. Flowering (Apr–)Jun–Oct.
Habitat Open sites, often disturbed, roadsides, fields, pastures, open woods, in various soils, most abundantly in sand Dry, open slopes and ridges, streambeds, road banks and other disturbed sites, sandy flats, dunes, coastal sage scrub, chaparral, yellow pine, foothill pine, blue oak woodland
Elevation 5–200 m (0–700 ft) (1–)50–800(–2000) m ((0–)200–2600(–6600) ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NH; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; NB; NS; ON; PE; QC
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[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
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Discussion

Pseudognaphalium beneolens differs from P. thermale in its leaves linear throughout, heads usually in elongate, paniculiform arrays, larger heads (greater numbers of phyllaries in greater numbers of series) with phyllaries more opaque and duller, and greater numbers of bisexual florets. The cauline leaves of P. beneolens tend to become curving-coiling. In areas of sympatry, habitats of P. beneolens are characteristically at lower elevations than those of P. thermale.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 420. FNA vol. 19, p. 419.
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. leucocephalum, P. luteoalbum, P. macounii, P. micradenium, P. microcephalum, P. pringlei, P. ramosissimum, P. roseum, P. saxicola, P. stramineum, P. thermale, P. viscosum
P. arizonicum, P. austrotexanum, P. biolettii, P. californicum, P. canescens, P. helleri, P. jaliscense, P. leucocephalum, P. luteoalbum, P. macounii, P. micradenium, P. microcephalum, P. obtusifolium, P. pringlei, P. ramosissimum, P. roseum, P. saxicola, P. stramineum, P. thermale, P. viscosum
Synonyms Gnaphalium obtusifolium, Gnaphalium obtusifolium var. praecox Gnaphalium beneolens, Gnaphalium canescens subsp. beneolens, P. canescens subsp. beneolens
Name authority (Linnaeus) Hilliard & B. L. Burtt: Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 82: 205. (1981) (Davidson) Anderberg: Opera Bot. 104: 147. (1991)
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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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