Brickellia eupatorioides

Perennials, 30-200 cm (bases woody). Stems branched, pubescent. Leaves mostly opposite (alternate in vars. gracillima and texana); petioles 0-10 mm; blades 1- or 3-nerved from bases, lanceolate, lance-linear, lance-ovate, lance-rhombic, linear, or oblong, 25-100 × 0.5-40 mm, bases acute, margins entire or ± dentate (often revolute), apices obtuse to acuminate, faces glandular-pubescent. Heads in paniculiform or corymbiform arrays. Peduncles 5-100 mm, glandular-pubescent. Involucres cylindric to narrowly campanulate, 7-15 mm. Phyllaries 22-26 in 4-6 series, green to stramineous, sometimes purple-tinged, 3-7-striate, unequal, margins scarious (often ciliate); outer ovate to lance-ovate (puberulent, often densely gland-dotted, apices acute to acuminate), inner lanceolate (± gland-dotted, apices obtuse to aristate). Florets 6-35; corollas pale yellow, yellow-green, pinkish lavender, or maroon, 4.5-6 mm. Cypselae 2.7-5.5 mm, glabrous or strigose, sometimes hispidulous or velutinous and/or gland-dotted; pappi of 20-28 white or tawny, usually plumose or subplumose, sometimes barbellate, bristles.

FNA 2006, Heil et al 2013

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Subshrub General: Perennial herb, 30-200 cm tall, often from a woody base; stems pubescent, diffusely branching. Leaves: Mostly opposite (can be alternate in some varieties), sessile or on short petioles to 1 cm long; blades linear to lanceolate or lance-rhombic, 2-10 cm long, 1 mm to 4 cm wide, bases acute, apices obtuse to acuminate, margins entire to dentate, faces glandular-pubescent, with a prominent midvein. Flowers: Flower heads discoid, arranged in panicles, on glandular-pubescent peduncles up to 10 cm long; involucre (ring of bracts wrapped around flower head) cylindric to narrowly campanulate, 7-15 mm high, the bracts (phyllaries) 22-26 in 4-6 series, green to straw-colored, sometimes purple-tinged, 3-7 striate, unequal, margins scarious, often ciliate; florets 6-35, all discs, the corollas pale yellow, yellow-green, pinkish lavender to maroon, 4-6 mm. Fruits: Achenes 3-5 mm, glabrous or strigose, sometimes hispidulous or velutinous to gland-dotted, with a pappus of of 20-28 white or tawny, usually plumose or subplumose bristles. Ecology: Found on mesas, slopes, and openings in pine forests, from 4,500-7,500 ft (457-2286 m); flowers May-October. Distribution: Most of eastern N. America; from AZ north to MT and east to PA and NJ; south through FL and to c MEX. Notes: Brickellia is a genus of shrubs and perennial herbs with all disc flowers, these usually white to cream colored; flower heads wrapped in several rows of bracts (phyllaries), the outer rows shorter than the inner rows; and 10-nerved seeds topped with white tufts of bristles. B. eupatoroides is distinguished by being a subshrub with mostly opposite, linear or oblong leaves; short-hairy and gland-dotted phyllaries; and pappus of plumose bristles that, in seed, help the fruits blow in the wind. (Use a hand lens to see that the bristles are plumose, or feathery.) In our region this species has three varieties: var. chlorolepis, var. gracillima, and var. eupatorioides. Var. chlorolepis has narrow leaves, 1-3 mm wide, with 1 nerve only, and involucres 8-13 mm high. Var. eupatorioides has wider leaves, 5-40 mm wide, with 1-3 nerves, and comparable sized involucres 7-11 mm high. Var. gracillima has very narrow leaves, 1 mm or less wide, shorter involucres, 5-10 mm high, and fewer florets per flower head than the other varieties (9-13). Variety chlorolepis is the most widespread in this region; its growth form is often diffusely branching from the base. Ethnobotany: Decoction of the root is taken for old injury or cough. Etymology: Brickellia is named for Dr. John Brickell (1749-1809), a botanist and physician in Georgia; eupatorioides refers to its being like the genus Eupatorium. Synonyms: Kuhnia eupatorioides, Kuhnia rosmarinifolia Editor: SBuckley 2010, FSCoburn 2014, AHazelton 2015