Trixis inula
Inst. Rei Herb. 1: 329. 1766.
Plants 30–300+ cm (much branched). Leaves usually spreading; petioles 1–3 mm; blades linear-lanceolate to lanceolate or elliptic, 2.5–16.5 cm, bases attenuate to ± truncate, margins entire or denticulate (± flat), induments: margins and sometimes abaxial midveins with glandless and glandular-hairs, otherwise glabrous; stomates on abaxial faces. Heads in corymbiform or paniculiform arrays. Peduncles 1–20 (–25) mm, little, if at all, inflated distally. Calyculi of 3–5 linear to lanceolate (rarely ovate) bractlets 2.5–17 mm. Phyllaries usually 8, linear to oblong, 8–13 (–15) mm, apices acute. Florets (8–) 10–15; corolla-tubes 5–9 mm, outer lips 4–7.5 mm, inner 3.5–5.5 mm. Cypselae 4.5–9 mm, papillalike double hairs not producing mucilage when wetted; pappi 7–11 mm. 2n = 54.
Phenology: Flowering Mar–Nov (following rains).
Habitat: Open, sandy sites, thorn scrub, palm groves, thickets, roadsides
Elevation: 0–100 m
Distribution
Tex., Mexico, West Indies, Central America, n South America
Discussion
The earliest botanical name for the plants here called Trixis inula is Inula trixis Linnaeus, 1760. In 1763, Linnaeus changed the name from Inula trixis to Perdicium radiale, which was based on the same type and is illegitimate under today’s rules of botanical nomenclature because the epithet trixis should have been used in 1763. The name Trixis radialis (Linnaeus) Kuntze, 1891, was based on Perdicium radiale of Linnaeus and has been used by some botanists; it is superfluous and illegitimate under today’s rules.
Selected References
None.