Baccharis salicifolia
Baccharis brachyphylla
mule's fat, mule-fat, seepwillow, water wally
short leaf baccharis, shortleaf baccharis or false willow
spreading to ascending, green to tan, simple proximally, sparingly branched distally, striate-angled, glabrous or minutely hairy, resinous and ± resin-varnished.
erect, green, slender and wandlike, striate-angled, glabrate proximally, hispidulous distally (near heads).
present at flowering (abundant, well developed);
sessile or petiolate;
blades lanceolate-elliptic, slightly falcate (willowlike), 30–150 × 3–20 mm, bases attenuate, margins usually finely serrate from bases to apices, sometimes entire, apices acute to acuminate, faces glabrous, gland-dotted, ± resinous.
present at flowering (reduced, sparse);
sessile;
blades (1-nerved) linear to linear-lanceolate, 5–17 × 1–2 mm (reduced distally to subulate bracts), margins entire, apices acute, faces glabrous (sometimes minutely papillose).
hemispheric;
staminate 3–6 mm, pistillate involucres 3–6 mm.
funnelform or campanulate;
staminate 3–5.2 mm, pistillate 4–6 mm.
50–150;
corollas 2–3.5 mm.
8–18;
corollas 2–2.8 mm.
(10–)17–48;
corollas 4–6 mm.
(8–)12–18(–29);
corollas 3.3–4.2 mm.
ovate to lanceolate, 2–4 mm, margins scarious, erose or irregularly dentate, midribs distinct, medians green or reddish, apices (greenish or brownish purple) obtuse to acuminate (pale and dry, glabrous).
lanceolate, 1–4 mm, margins scarious, medians green (hispid), apices acute to acuminate.
in terminal, compound corymbiform arrays (often involving distal branches).
(on racemiform lateral branches) in paniculiform arrays.
0.8–1.5 mm, 5-nerved, glabrous;
pappi 3–6 mm.
1.5–2.5 mm, 5-nerved, hispid;
pappi 4.5–7 mm.
= 18, 36.
= 18.
Baccharis salicifolia
Baccharis brachyphylla
Baccharis salicifolia is part of a complex that extends through the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America to Argentina and Chile (J. Cuatrecasas 1968). It is recognized by the narrowly lanceolate, willowlike, finely serrate leaves with acute or acuminate apices, smallish heads in dense clusters, reddish phyllaries, and 5-nerved cypselae. By tagging and measuring individual plants throughout the year, D. H. Wilken (1972) demonstrated that B. salicifolia has distinct seasonal forms. The North American plants were once known as B. glutinosa or B. viminea, which were differentiated from each other by differences in woodiness, leaf size and serration, and flowering time.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Baccharis brachyphylla is characterized by the densely branching habit, narrow stems, and small, linear-lanceolate leaves, and hispidulous hairs on stems, leaves, phyllaries, and cypselae.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
OR
CalFlora
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
