Pulicaria

Gaertner

Fruct. Sem. Pl. 2: 461, plate 173, fig. 7. 1791.

Common names: False fleabane
Etymology: Latin pulex, flea, and -aria, pertaining to alluding to use of the plants as flea repellent
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 19. Treatment on page 471. Mentioned on page 47.
 TaxonIllustrator 
FNA19 P53 Pulicaria paludosa.jpegPulicaria paludosa
Dittrichia graveolens
Inula helenium
Yevonn Wilson-Ramsey
Yevonn Wilson-Ramsey
Yevonn Wilson-Ramsey

Annuals (biennials, or perennials) [shrubs, subshrubs], (5–) 20–120 cm (sometimes rhizomatous). Leaves basal and/or cauline (mostly cauline at flowering), alternate; usually sessile; blade margins entire or ± dentate to serrate. Heads radiate [disciform or discoid], in corymbiform, racemiform, or paniculiform arrays. Involucres hemispheric to campanulate, [3–] 5–10 [–20+] mm diam. Phyllaries persistent (reflexed in fruit), in (2–) 3–4+ series, unequal to subequal. Receptacles flat, smooth or minutely alveolate, epaleate. Ray-florets (10–) 20–30 [–60+], pistillate, fertile; corollas yellow, laminae 1.5–2+ mm. Disc-florets (9–) 40–100 [–150+]; corollas yellow, lobes 5. Cypselae ellipsoid (abruptly constricted distally; often glandular distally); pappi persistent, outer of basally connate, ± erose scales (usually forming cups), inner of distinct (fragile), barbellate or flattened bristles. x = 7, 9, 10.

Distribution

Introduced; Europe, Asia, Africa

Discussion

Species 100+ (1 in the flora).

Pulicaria arabica (Linnaeus) Cassini (Vicoa auriculata Cassini) was collected in Alabama, California, and Florida in the late 1800s. It does not appear to have become naturalized at any of those locations (A. Cronquist 1980; J. E. Arriagada 1998).

Pulicaria dysenterica (Linnaeus) Bernhardi was collected in the late 1800s as a ballast weed in New Jersey and in Pennsylvania. It was collected in the 1920s growing on the margins of a marsh in Maryland. Although it is widely cultivated for its insecticidal properties, there is no evidence that it has ever become established in the flora (J. E. Arriagada 1998).

Pulicaria vulgaris Gaertner was collected as a ballast weed in New Jersey in 1879. No other collections of the species from North America are known to me.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

... more about "Pulicaria"
rounded;truncate +
scarious +
ovate +  and lanceovate or linear +
paniculiform +, racemiform +  and corymbiform +
indeterminate +  and determinate +
Robert E. Preston +
Gaertner +
decurrent +
compound +  and simple +
serrate +, dentate +  and entire +
False fleabane +
ellipsoid +
fertile +  and bisexual +
Europe +, Asia +  and Africa +
Latin pulex, flea, and -aria, pertaining to +  and alluding to use of the plants as flea repellent +
pistillate +, staminate +  and neuter +
winged +  and beaked +
dispersed +
indeterminate +
heterogamous +
each +  and sessile +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
hemispheric;campanulate +
0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br /> (0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br />) +
cauline +  and basal +
deltate +
serrate +, dentate +  and entire +
2-carpellate +
persistent +
unequal +  and subequal +
Fruct. Sem. Pl. +
bearing subulate enations +, hairy +  and bristly +
alveolate +  and smooth +
flat;convex +
exalbuminous +
unequal;subequal +
prostrate +  and ascending +
appendaged +  and truncate +
papillate +
Compositae +
Pulicaria +
Asteraceae tribe Inuleae +
5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br /> (20 cm200 mm <br />0.2 m <br />) +
20 cm200 mm <br />0.2 m <br /> (120 cm1,200 mm <br />1.2 m <br />) +
tree +, vine +, shrub +  and subshrub +
10 +, 9 +  and 7 +