Gnaphalium obtusifolium L.

  • Authority

    Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

  • Family

    Asteraceae

  • Scientific Name

    Gnaphalium obtusifolium L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Erect, fragrant annual or winter annual, (1–)3–10 dm; stem thinly white-woolly, commonly becoming subglabrous (or even a little glandular) near the base; lvs numerous, essentially all cauline, lance-linear, to 10 × 1 cm, sessile but not decurrent, white-woolly beneath, green and from glabrous to slightly glandular or slightly woolly above; infl ample, branched, and many-headed in well developed plants, flat or round-topped and often elongate; invol ochroleucous or dingy, campanulate, woolly only near the base, 5–7 mm, its bracts acutish to obtuse or somewhat rounded; fls mostly ca 75–125, 3–10 of them perfect; achenes glabrous; pappus-bristles distinct, falling separately, or sometimes temporarily coherent in small groups by means of tiny, interlocking hairs near the base; 2n=28. A common native N. Amer. weed, found throughout our range, s. to Fla. and w. to Neb. and Tex. The var. saxicola (Fassett) Cronquist, found along cliffs and ravines in s.c. Wis., is a lax, slender form less than 2.5 dm, with broader lvs less hairy beneath than in var. obtusifolium (G. saxicola).

  • Common Names

    fragrant cudweed