Gnaphalium domingense Lam.

• Authority

  Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

• Family

  Asteraceae

• Scientific Name

  Gnaphalium domingense Lam.

• Description

  Species Description - Annual or short-lived perennial herb to 1 m tall; stems cobwebby-woolly, simple but branching above in the inflorescence. Leaves sessile, somewhat clasping the stem, 3-9 x 0.3-1.3 cm, lanceolate to oblanceolate, chartaceous, with obscure venation, the upper surface cobwebby to puberulent, sometimes glandular, the lower surface white-tomentose, the margins entire to crenulate. Inflorescence corymbiform, of several more or less compact clusters of 3-10 sessile or nearly sessile heads. Heads ca. 6 x 3-5 cm; involucre cylindrical to bell-shaped, 3-4-seriate, ca. 6 mm tall; involucral bracts several, cream-colored or pale yellow, glabrous or the outermost cobwebby at base, elliptic or lanceolate; receptacle flat, 2 mm broad; peduncles lacking or to 1 mm long. Outer flowers ca. 30-40; corollas 3-3.5 mm long, cream-colored. Inner flowers ca. 10; corollas 3-3.5 mm long, pale yellow, the lobes lightly glandular. Achenes 0.75 mm long, glabrous, brown; pappus bristles ca. 12, 3-3.5 mm long, white, readily deciduous.

• Distribution

  Rare coastal weed. Caneel Bay (W673). Throughout the Greater Antilles.