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Crofton weed, eupatory, Mexican devil, sticky snakeroot, thoroughwort

lucy Braun's snakeroot, rockhouse white snakeroot

Habit Subshrubs, 50–220 cm. Perennials, 30–60 cm.
Stems

(usually purplish when young) erect, stipitate-glandular.

erect, glabrous.

Leaves

opposite;

petioles 10–25 mm;

blades (abaxially purple) ovate-lanceolate or ovate-deltate to lanceolate-ovate, (1.5–)2.5–5.5(–8) × 1.5–4(–6) cm, bases cuneate to obtuse or nearly truncate, margins serrate, apices acute to acuminate, abaxial faces stipitate- to sessile-glandular.

opposite;

petioles 25–70 mm;

blades broadly ovate-deltate, 4–8 × 5–9 cm, (thin, delicate) bases truncate to subcordate, margins coarsely dentate, apices acute to acuminate, abaxial faces glabrous or sparsely puberulent.

Peduncles

5–12 mm, densely stipitate-glandular and sometimes also sparsely viscid-puberulent.

1–3 mm, glabrous or sparsely puberulent.

Involucres

3.5–4 mm.

3.5–4 mm.

Corollas

white, pink-tinged, lobes sparsely hispidulous.

white, lobes glabrous or sparsely puberulent.

Phyllaries

apices acute, abaxial faces stipitate-glandular.

apices acuminate, abaxial faces glabrous or sparsely puberulent.

Heads

clustered.

clustered.

Cypselae

glabrous.

sparsely and evenly hirtellous.

2n

= 51.

= 34.

Ageratina adenophora

Ageratina luciae-brauniae

Phenology Flowering Mar–Aug(–Sep). Flowering Aug–Oct.
Habitat Stream margins, ditches, road embankments, hillsides Under overhanging sandstone (Pottsville formation) cliffs and ledges
Elevation 400–900 m (1300–3000 ft) 400–500 m (1300–1600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; Mexico; Intoduced [Also introduced in Europe, Pacific Islands (New Zealand)]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
KY; TN
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Ageratina luciae-brauniae was treated by A. F. Clewell and J. W. Wooten (1971) as a synonym of A. altissima and regarded by them as “bizarre plants showing extreme signs of etiolation from growing under limestone ledges” (p. 134). B. E. Wofford (1976) observed that greenhouse transplants of both species maintained distinctions that provide rationale for maintaining A. luciae-brauniae at specific rank.

Ageratina luciae-brauniae is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.

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

Source FNA vol. 21, p. 553. FNA vol. 21, p. 550.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Eupatorieae > Ageratina Asteraceae > tribe Eupatorieae > Ageratina
Sibling taxa
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
A. adenophora, A. altissima, A. aromatica, A. havanensis, A. herbacea, A. jucunda, A. lemmonii, A. occidentalis, A. paupercula, A. rothrockii, A. shastensis, A. thyrsiflora, A. wrightii
Synonyms Eupatorium adenophorum Eupatorium luciae-brauniae
Name authority (Sprengel) R. M. King & H. Robinson: Phytologia 19: 211. (1970) (Fernald) R. M. King & H. Robinson: Phytologia 19: 215. (1970)
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