AMERICAN BURNWEED
File Size: 86 KB
 
Erechtites hieracifolius   (L. ) Raf. ex  DC.
Leavenworth County, Kansas
Annual
Height: 12-80 inches
Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family
Flowering Period:   August, September
Also Called: Pilewort.
Stems: 1 or 2, erect, glabrous or floccose-tomentose.
Leaves: Basal and cauline, alternate, basal usually withering before flowering, not prickly or spiny, upper gradually reduced; petioles absent or short; blades lanceolate to narrowly ovate, 2 to 8 inches long, 3/5 to 3 inches wide, base wedge-shaped to auricled, margins entire to serrate or weakly pinnately lobed.
Inflorescences: Heads, 2 to 20(-40) in corymb-like arrays; involucres urn-shaped to obconic, .4 to .7 inch; calyculate bractlets 4 to 12; phyllaries usually 21 in 1 series, linear, .4 to .6 inch, tips green, acuminate.
Flowers: Ray florets 0; peripheral florets pistillate; corolla white to yellowish white, narrowly tubular 4-5-lobed, 3 outer teeth much longer than 2 inner; disk florets 3 to 100, bisexual, fertile; corolla whitish to yellowish white.
Fruits: Achenes cylindric or tapering slightly to base, 5-angled, 10 to 20-ribbed, 1/10 to 1/8 inch, glabrous or finely pubescent between the nerves; pappus of 60 to 120 white, obscurely barbellate bristles 2/5 to 1/2 inch long.
Habitat: Moist woods and thickets, prairie ravines, gardens and flower beds, moist disturbed sites
Distribution: East 1/3 of Kansas, more common in southeast
Origin: Native
Comments: Erechtites, is an ancient name for a species of Senecio.

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