Baccharis salicifolia
Baccharis wrightii
mule's fat, mule-fat, seepwillow, water wally
Wright's baccharis, Wright's 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 and slender or short and branched, prominently striate-angled, glabrous, eglandular.
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.
(reduced) proximal often withered and absent at flowering;
sessile;
blades oblanceolate to narrowly oblong, 5–10(–25) × 1–3(–7) mm (thin), bases narrowed, margins entire or finely serrate (teeth aristate), faces eglandular, not resinous (distal reduced to linear or oblong scales).
hemispheric;
staminate 3–6 mm, pistillate involucres 3–6 mm.
broadly campanulate to hemispheric;
staminate 5–9 mm, pistillate 9–14 mm.
50–150;
corollas 2–3.5 mm.
20–30;
corollas 3–5 mm.
(10–)17–48;
corollas 4–6 mm.
20–30;
corollas 4.5–6 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).
narrowly lanceolate, 2–6 mm (not keeled), medians green or brown, margins scarious, apices acute or acuminate (erose, abaxial faces glabrous, eglandular).
in terminal, compound corymbiform arrays (often involving distal branches).
usually borne singly (terminal on slender branches).
0.8–1.5 mm, 5-nerved, glabrous;
pappi 3–6 mm.
3–5 mm, strongly 5–10-nerved, papillose-roughened, glandular;
pappi 15–20 mm (often brownish).
= 18, 36.
= 18.
Baccharis salicifolia
Baccharis wrightii
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 wrightii is recognized by its bushy, broomlike habit, stems woody only at bases, relatively small, non gland-dotted leaves, early flowering period, heads borne singly, conspicuous, brownish pistillate pappi, and relatively large, strongly nerved cypselae.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
OR
CalFlora
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
KS Wildflowers
