Baccharis texana
Baccharis pteronioides
prairie baccharis or false willow, prairie false willow
yerba de pasmo
simple, erect or procumbent, rigid (woody proximally), herbaceous and leafy distally (dying back annually), striate-angled, glabrous, non-resinous.
erect, terete, brittle, slightly striate, scabrous, stipitate-glandular, papillose-roughened.
present at flowering;
sessile;
blades (1-nerved) linear to narrowly lanceolate, 10–40 × 1–4 mm, bases narrowed, margins minutely undulate, apices acute, faces glabrous, gland-dotted (distal leaves reduced, scalelike).
cauline (proximal withering before flowering, distal crowded in gascicles);
sessile;
blades linear to lanceolate or spatulate, 5–25 × 1–6 mm (stiff, coriaceous to fleshy), bases attenuate, margins sharply serrate (teeth 1–5 pairs, distal leaves often entire), faces glabrous, gland-dotted, resinous.
campanulate;
staminate 4–7 mm, pistillate 7–9 mm.
campanulate;
staminate 4–5 mm, pistillate 5–6(–7) mm.
20–30;
corollas 3.5–4 mm.
15–20;
corollas 4–5 mm.
15–20;
corollas 4–5 mm.
15–20;
corollas 4–5 mm.
lanceolate, 1–7 mm, margins scarious, erose-ciliate, medians green (midribs dark, keeled, dilated), apices acute to acuminate (erose-ciliate, abaxial faces glabrous, minutely papillose-gland-dotted).
ovate to lanceolate, 1–5 mm, margins scarious, medians green, apices acute to acuminate, glabrous.
(on short peduncles) in loose corymbiform arrays.
(10–20+ on densely leafy lateral branchlets) in spreading racemiform arrays.
3–5 mm, prominently 6–8-nerved, glabrous;
pappi 11–14 mm.
1.8–3 mm, 8–10-nerved, minutely papillose-glandular;
pappi 8–10 mm (bristles rigid).
Baccharis texana
Baccharis pteronioides
Baccharis texana is recognized by its low, subshrub habit, simple, more or less herbaceous and leafy stems arising from woody bases, narrow leaves with minutely undulate margins, large pedunculate heads, and erose-ciliate phyllaries with dilated midribs.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Baccharis pteronioides is characterized by its shrubby stiff habit, rough gray bark, branches that are evenly spaced and often at 45° angles, fascicles of narrow sessile leaves, and heads in racemiform arrays on short leafy branches. The Mexican common name yerba de pasmo refers to an infusion of the leaves used to treat chills (pasmo) and sores; the plants are also said to be poisonous to cattle and sheep.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
