Pluchea
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Asteraceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Genus Description - Annual or perennial herbs or shrubs, commonly aromatic; stems erect, sometimes winged by decurrent leaf bases. Leaves simple, alternate; blades pinnately veined, both surfaces commonly glandular and pubescent. Inflorescence terminal, often paniculate; peduncles commonly pubescent. Heads disciform; flowers very numerous; involucral bracts graduated, overlapping, reflexed after fruit; receptacle flat, naked. Flowers heterogamous, unisexual; corollas actinomorphic, commonly purplish. Outer flowers very numerous, pistillate; corollas filiform, apically denticulate; styles shortly bifid. Central flowers few to several, functionally staminate, but appearing bisexual; corollas tubular, bell-shaped, shortly 5-lobed; anthers caudate; styles weakly bifid or entire, the ovary sterile. Achenes very small, cylindrical, often 3-6-ribbed or ribbing obscure, brown; pappus of several barbellate capillary bristles, about as long as the corollas.
Distribution and Ecology - A genus of 40-80 species widely distributed from United States to Mexico, Central America, tropical and subtropical South America, West Indies, Africa, southeastern Asia, Indo-Malay area, Australia, and the Pacific.