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(Last Modified On 6/17/2013)
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(Last Modified On 6/17/2013)
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Genus
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Simsia Pers.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Syn. P1. 2: 478. 1807.
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Note
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LECTOTYPE: Coreopsis amplexicaulis Cav. Simsia amplexicaulis (Cav.) Pers.
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Synonym
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?Amania Bert. ex. DC., Prodr. 5: 576. 1836. Based on Hopkirkia fruticulosa Spreng. Barrattia A. Gray & Engelm., Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 1: 48. 1846. TYPE: B. calva A. Gray & Engelm. = Simsia calva (A. Gray & Engelm.) A. Gray. Encelia sect. Simsia (Pers.) A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 19: 8. 1883.
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Description
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Pubescent, branched, short-lived, erect herbs. Leaves opposite except near the inflorescence, mostly serrate, sometimes lobed, 3-nerved; petiolate with an interpetiolar ridge or auricles. Inflorescence loosely paniculate; peduncles elongate, ebracteolate. Heads radiate or discoid, subglobose; involucral bracts in about 3 series, imbricate, lanceolate, equal or not, sometimes alike, dorsally pubescent, 3-9-nerved, mostly indurate but often green; paleas scarious, stiff, acuminate, often pubescent upward, persistent, conduplicate and half-enfolding the flowers; receptacle flat or convex; ray florets several in 1 series, sometimes wanting, the corolla mostly yellow with a pubescent tube and an elliptical, emarginate limb, the androecium wanting, the style short and stout, the ovary sterile, trigonous, slender, often epappose; disc florets numerous, mostly yellow, the corolla with a short, pubescent tube and a cylindrical, 5-lobed limb, puberulent on the veins, slightly ventricose, the anthers with short appendages and usually stiff dorsal ascending hairs near the top of the connective, basally obtuse or subauriculate, the style branches slender, ascending-strigose, the style base expanded, elevated or (Robinson & Brettell) immersed in the nectary, the ovary fertile, laterally flattened. Achene flat, black, the margins thin but sometimes ciliate, the sides sometimes pubescent; pappus of 2 stiff, basally flattened, ascending-strigose bristles, rarely wanting.
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Habit
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herbs
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Distribution
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Simsia includes perhaps 40 species ranging throughout tropical anld warm temperate America.
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Note
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One species occurs in the Greater Antilles, and one species occurs in Panama. The relatively large, globose heads with numerous involucral bracts and the tomentose or velutinous leaves which usually dry dark gray-green are good features for recognition. The flat, black, 2-awned achenes are also distinctive.
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Reference
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Robinson, H. & R. D. Brettell. 1972. Studies in the Heliantheae (Astereae). II. A survey of the Mexican and Central American species of Simsia. Phyto- logia 24: 361-377.
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