Stevia serrata

Perennials, 40-100 cm. Leaves mostly alternate (at least not regularly opposite, crowded, with axillary clusters of smaller leaves); petioles 0; blades (3-nerved) narrowly lanceolate to lance-linear, 1.5-4 cm, margins serrulate. Heads borne in ± congested, compact clusters. Peduncles 0 or 1-4 mm, sessile-glandular, villous-puberulent. Involucres 5-6(-7) mm. Phyllaries sessile-glandular, sparsely villosulous, apices acute to acuminate. Corollas white or pink, lobes sparsely sessile-glandular, finely villous-hirsute. Pappi usually ± equaling corollas, sometimes coroniform or 0. 2n = (22-)34(-54) univalents, less often 17 pairs.

Flowering (Jul-)Aug-Oct. Roadsides, disturbed sites, oak-grasslands, oak-pine grasslands, and oak, mixed conifer-oak, mixed pine, ponderosa pine-Douglas fir, pine-fir-aspen, spruce-Douglas fir, and fir-hemlock woodlands; 1700-2700 m; Ariz., N.Mex., Tex.; Mexico.

Some collections of Stevia serrata from Cochise and Graham counties, Arizona, were annotated by J. L. Grashoff as 'S. serrata > plummerae'; in leaf arrange-ment and morphology (venation, margin, and shape), they appear to be similar to typical S. serrata from the same area.

FNA 2006, Kearney and Peebles 1969, McDougall 1973

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Herbaceous perennials, to 100 cm tall or more, herbage pubescent or somewhat hirsute, stems with crowded leaves up to the dense clusters of heads. Leaves: Alternate, subsessile, linear to oblanceolate, spatulate, or oval, to 3 cm long and 10 mm wide, margins irregularly and coarsely serrate to entire, strongly punctate, narrowly 3-nerved. Flowers: Heads small, 5-flowered, the corollas white to pale pink, 5-toothed, involucres 5-6 mm high, phyllaries glandular and sparsely villous, heads sessile or borne on very short, glandular, villous-puberulent peduncles in congested, compact clusters. Fruits: Achenes slender. Pappus of 1-5 awns and often a crown of short scales. Ecology: Found in pine forests, roadsides, disturbed sites, oak-grasslands, oak-pine grasslands, and oak, mixed conifer-oak, mixed pine, ponderosa pine-Douglas fir, pine-fir-aspen, spruce-Douglas fir, and fir-hemlock woodlands, from 4,500-9,000 ft (1372-2734 m); f Distribution: Arizona, New Mexico, Texas; Mexico. Notes: Differentiate from Stevia plummerae by the numerous, alternate, punctate leaves. Ethnobotany: Unknown. Etymology: Stevia is named after the Spanish botanist Pedro Jaime Esteve (d. 1566), while serrata means serrate, in reference to the leaves. Synonyms: Stevia serrata var. haplopappa, Stevia serrata var. ivifolia Editor: LCrumbacher 2011