1. Brickellia eupatorioides (L.) Shinners (false boneset)
Kuhnia
eupatorioides L.
Pl. 264 a–f; Map
1106
Stems 30–80(–120)
cm long, densely and finely hairy to nearly glabrous. Leaves alternate,
numerous, usually relatively closely spaced and thus sometimes appearing
opposite or whorled at some nodes, short-petiolate or sessile. Leaf blades 0.8–10.0
cm long, linear, narrowly elliptic, or narrowly to broadly lanceolate,
short-tapered at the base, tapered to a sharply pointed tip, the margins entire
or shallowly to rarely coarsely few-toothed, the upper surface somewhat
roughened or glabrous, also with scattered glands, the undersurface sparsely to
moderately and finely hairy, sometimes only along the veins, also moderately to
densely glandular. Inflorescences small panicles or appearing as stalked
clusters at the branch tips, or less commonly appearing as a leafy panicle with
loosely racemose branches, the heads usually erect or ascending (except in
drought-stressed plants). Involucre 7–15 mm long, narrowly cup-shaped. Disc
florets 6–35. Corollas 4–6 mm long. Pappus bristles plumose. Fruits 3–5 mm
long. 2n=18. July–October.
Scattered nearly
throughout the state, but absent from most of the Mississippi Lowlands Division
(eastern U.S. west to Montana and Arizona). Upland prairies, sand prairies,
loess hill prairies, glades, savannas, openings of mesic to dry upland forests,
ledges and tops of bluffs, banks of streams and rivers, and rarely fens; also
pastures, old fields, fallow fields, and roadsides.
The plants once
widely referred to as Kuhnia eupatorioides and its allies are now widely
accepted as a specialized group within Brickellia (Shinners, 1971; King
and Robinson, 1987). Shinners (1946c, 1971) and Turner (1989) have slightly
different interpretations of the infraspecific classification of this species,
but both accept a number of variants within B. eupatorioides. These
varieties seem reasonably distinct throughout much of their ranges, but in
areas of geographic overlap they tend to intergrade freely. This is the case in
much of Missouri, where the ranges of the three varieties treated below
overlap, particularly those of var. corymbulosa and var. eupatorioides.
Foliage and inflorescence characters generally are too variable to be useful
for separating varieties. Although the species itself is quite distinct in the
Missouri flora, users will encounter problems in keying out some specimens
below the species level.