Flora of North America species comparison

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Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium

Pseudognaphalium saxicola

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

cliff cudweed
Habit Annuals or winter annuals (sometimes faintly fragrant), (10–)30–100 cm; taprooted. Annuals, 4–15(–30) cm; taprooted.
Stems

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

(filiform) persistently tomentose (indument a loose, envelope-like, transparent haze of extremely thin hairs, doubling apparent stem width), 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 elliptic-oblanceolate to oblanceolate, 0.5–3 cm × 2–6 mm (largest at midstem), bases not clasping, not decurrent, margins flat, faces concolor, green, thinly arachnoid-tomentose to glabrate, not glandular (veiny reticulum evident).
Involucres

broadly campanulate, 5–7 mm.

turbinate, 4–5 mm.
Pistillate florets

38–96.

25–28.
Bisexual florets

4–8(–11).

6–7.
Phyllaries

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

in 3(–4) series, whitish to slightly tawny (hyaline, shiny), narrowly triangular to narrowly oblong-triangular, glabrous.
Heads

in corymbiform (sometimes rounded to elongate) arrays.

(2–4) in terminal, capitate clusters (usually immediately subtended by distalmost cauline leaf, clusters sometimes in subcorymbiform arrays).
Cypselae

ridged, smooth.

not ridged, smooth.

Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium

Pseudognaphalium saxicola
Phenology Flowering Aug–Oct. Flowering (Jul–)Aug–Sep.
Habitat Open sites, often disturbed, roadsides, fields, pastures, open woods, in various soils, most abundantly in sand Mostly bare sandstone cliff faces, ledges, and cracks, s- to e-facing, commonly shaded
Elevation 5–200 m (0–700 ft) 200–300 m (700–1000 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
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
WI
Discussion

Pseudognaphalium saxicola probably is an evolutionary derivative of P. obtusifolium. Plants of P. saxicola are relatively small and have relatively few, relatively small heads and occur in a specialized habitat; they constitute the only narrowly endemic species of Pseudognaphalium in the United States. Depauperate individuals of P. obtusifolium from localities over its whole geographic range may sometimes be as short as 5–10 cm and similar in habit to P. saxicola; such plants differ from P. saxicola in their close and denser stem vestiture, bicolor and relatively narrow leaves, larger heads with greater numbers of pistillate florets, and broader phyllaries with rounded apices.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 420. FNA vol. 19, p. 420.
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. beneolens, 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. stramineum, P. thermale, P. viscosum
Synonyms Gnaphalium obtusifolium, Gnaphalium obtusifolium var. praecox Gnaphalium saxicola, Gnaphalium obtusifolium var. saxicola, P. obtusifolium var. saxicola
Name authority (Linnaeus) Hilliard & B. L. Burtt: Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 82: 205. (1981) (Fassett) H. E. Ballard & Feller: Sida 21: 777. (2004)
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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