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snakeroot

Habit Perennials, subshrubs, or shrubs [trees], mostly 20–220 cm.
Stems

usually erect, rarely scandent, sparsely to densely branched.

Leaves

cauline; mostly opposite (distal sometimes alternate);

petiolate;

blades 3(–5)-nerved from bases, usually deltate, lanceolate, ovate, rhombic, or triangular, sometimes orbiculate, margins entire, crenate, dentate, or serrate, faces glabrous or hispidulous, pilose, or puberulent, sometimes gland-dotted (A. occidentalis, A. adenophora).

Involucres

campanulate, 3–6 mm diam.

Receptacles

convex (glabrous or hairy), epaleate.

Florets

10–60;

corollas white or lavender, throats obconic to campanulate (lengths 1.5–2 times diams.);

styles: bases sometimes enlarged, glabrous, branches linear, seldom distally dilated.

Phyllaries

persistent, 8–30 in 2(–3) series, 0- or 2-nerved, lanceolate to linear, ± equal (herbaceous).

Heads

discoid, usually in compact, (terminal and axillary) corymbiform arrays, sometimes borne singly.

Cypselae

prismatic or ± fusiform, usually 5-ribbed, scabrellous and/or gland-dotted;

pappi usually persistent, sometimes fragile, rarely falling, of 5–40, barbellulate bristles in 1 series.

x

= 17.

Ageratina

Distribution
from USDA
North America; Mexico; Central America; Andean South America
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species ca. 250 (14 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Shrubs
→ 2
1. Perennials or subshrubs
→ 3
2. Petioles (2–)3–5 mm; leaf blades 1–2 cm, margins entire or shallowly crenate, facesgland-dotted
A. wrightii
2. Petioles 3–10(–15) mm; leaf blades (2–)3–5(–7) cm, margins coarsely crenate, facesnot gland-dotted
A. havanensis
3. Leaves alternate on at least distal 1/4–1/2 of stems
→ 4
3. Leaves opposite
→ 6
4. Heads usually borne singly (rarely 2s or 3s); involucres 11–12 mm
A. shastensis
4. Heads usually 5–10 (axillary clusters usually forming elongate or broad aggregates); involucres 2.5–3.5(–4) mm
→ 5
5. Leaves alternate on distal 1/4–1/2 of stems; involucres 3–3.5(–4) mm; corollas pink, bluish, or white tinged with purple (not orange-veined); cypselae sessile-glandular
A. occidentalis
5. Leaves alternate (from bases to apices of stems); involucres 2.5–3 mm; corollaswhite (prominently orange-veined); cypselae eglandular
A. thyrsiflora
6. Peduncles densely stipitate-glandular
A. adenophora
6. Peduncles puberulent, glabrous, or glabrescent (not glandular)
→ 7
7. Flowering in spring; leaves usually narrowly lanceolate, 0.5–1.5 cm wide,apically long-acuminate; involucres 2.5–3 mm; cypselae glabrous
A. paupercula
7. Flowering in fall; leaves ovate to lanceolate-ovate, triangular, or lanceolate, (0.5–)1.5–9 cm wide, apically acute to acuminate; involucres (in A. jucunda 2.5–)3.5–7 mm; cypselae usually hairy (glabrous in A. altissima)
→ 8
8. Leaves mostly sessile; heads in open, loose arrays, peduncles 10–60 mm
A. lemmonii
8. Leaves distinctly petiolate; heads in compact clusters, ultimate peduncles 1–15(–20) mm
→ 9
9. Petioles 1–22 mm (distal leaves greatly reduced in size well proximal to heads); leaf blades 2–7(–9) × 1.5–4 cm (relatively thick)
→ 10
9. Petioles (5–)10–70 or 2–20 (in A. rothrockii) mm; leaf blades 2–11(–13) × 1.5–9 cm (relatively thin)
→ 11
10. Petioles 1–8(–12) mm; leaf margins crenate or less commonlycrenate-serrate to dentate or subentire
A. aromatica
10. Petioles 7–15(–22) mm; leaf margins coarsely serrate or incised orless commonly crenate to subentire
A. jucunda
11. Leaves (yellow-green or grayish yellow-green): blades triangular to lanceolate-ovate or ovate, 2–5(–7) × 1.5–3.5(–4.5) cm; phyllariesusually granular-puberulent
A. herbacea
11. Leaves (green, rarely yellowish): blades lanceolate to lanceolate-ovate, 4–11(–13) × 2.5–9 cm; phyllaries glabrous, villous, or villous-puberulent
→ 12
12. Stems glabrous; leaf blades broadly deltate-ovate (thin, delicate), apices obtuse; corolla lobes glabrous or sparselypuberulent
A. luciae-brauniae
12. Stems puberulent; leaf blades deltate-ovate to ovate or broadly lanceolate, apices acute to acuminate; corolla lobes short-villous
→ 13
13. Peduncles 1–5 mm; involucres 4–5 mm; cypselae glabrous;e United States and Canada
A. altissima
13. Peduncles 5–12(–20) mm; involucres 5–7 mm; cypselae sparsely and finely strigose-hirsute; Arizona, New Mexico, sw Texas
A. rothrockii
Source FNA vol. 21, p. 547. Author: Guy L. Nesom.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Eupatorieae
Subordinate taxa
A. adenophora, A. altissima, A. aromatica, A. havanensis, A. herbacea, A. jucunda, A. lemmonii, A. luciae-brauniae, A. occidentalis, A. paupercula, A. rothrockii, A. shastensis, A. thyrsiflora, A. wrightii
Name authority Spach: Hist. Nat. Vég. 10: 286. (1841)
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