2. Brickellia grandiflora (Hook.) Nutt. (tassel flower)
Pl. 264 i–k; Map
1107
Stems 30–90 cm
long, moderately to densely pubescent with minute, sometimes spreading hairs.
Leaves all or mostly opposite, the uppermost leaves sometimes alternate, well
spaced, long-petiolate. Leaf blades 2–7 cm long, ovate-triangular to
triangular, truncate to cordate at the base, narrowed or tapered to a sharply
pointed tip, the margins bluntly toothed or scalloped, the surfaces short-hairy
and with scattered glands, the undersurface sparsely to moderately and finely
hairy, sometimes only along the veins, also moderately glandular.
Inflorescences small panicles or appearing as stalked clusters at the branch
tips, occasionally also appearing axillary, the heads usually nodding.
Involucre 7–12 mm long, narrowly cup-shaped to narrowly bell-shaped. Disc
florets 18–45. Corollas 6–8 mm long. Pappus bristles minutely barbed. Fruits 3–5
mm long. 2n=18. July–October.
Scattered in the
Ozark and Ozark Border Divisions (Washington to California east to Missouri and
Texas). Glades, ledges and tops of bluffs, on limestone and dolomite
substrates.
Steyermark
(1963) noted that plants can have a somewhat fetid odor when bruised or
crushed.