Gamochaeta ustulata
purple cudweed, spoon-leaf cudweed
Specimens
Photos

Distribution: Occurring west of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California.

Habitat: Balds, prairies, fields, and other disturbed open areas at low elevation.

Flowers: May-October

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Annual, Biennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Bees, beetles, wasps

Description:
General:

Thinly woolly annual or biennial, the simple or branched stem 1-4 dm. high.

Leaves:

Lowest leaves oblanceolate, up to 10 cm. long and 2 cm. wide; other leaves similar, gradually reduced upward.

Flowers:

Heads numerous in a leafy-bracted, spike-like inflorescence; involucre 3-5 mm. high, woolly toward the base, the bracts imbricate, acute, light brown, often tinged with pink or purple; flowers all tubular, whitish, the numerous outer flowers slender and pistillate, the few inner flowers coarser and perfect; pappus of capillary bristles, united at the base, deciduous as a ring.

Fruits:

Achenes small, nerveless.

Accepted Name:
Gamochaeta ustulata (Nutt.) Holub
Publication: Folia Geobot. Phytotax. 11: 83. 1976.

Synonyms & Misapplications:
Gamochaeta purpurea (L.) Cabrera, misapplied [FNA19]
Gnaphalium purpureum L. var. ustulatum (Nutt.) B. Boivin
Additional Resources:

PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Gamochaeta ustulata in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database

WA Flora Checklist: Gamochaeta ustulata checklist entry

OregonFlora: Gamochaeta ustulata information

E-Flora BC: Gamochaeta ustulata atlas page

CalPhotos: Gamochaeta ustulata photos

13 photographs:
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