Brickellia eupatorioides (L.) Shinners
Family: Asteraceae
False Boneset
[Kuhnia gooddingi ,  more...]
Brickellia eupatorioides image

Perennials, 30-200 cm (bases woody). Stems branched, pubescent. Leaves mostly opposite (alternate in vars. gracillima and texana); petioles 0-10 mm; blades 1- or 3-nerved from bases, lanceolate, lance-linear, lance-ovate, lance-rhombic, linear, or oblong, 25-100 × 0.5-40 mm, bases acute, margins entire or ± dentate (often revolute), apices obtuse to acuminate, faces glandular-pubescent. Heads in paniculiform or corymbiform arrays. Peduncles 5-100 mm, glandular-pubescent. Involucres cylindric to narrowly campanulate, 7-15 mm. Phyllaries 22-26 in 4-6 series, green to stramineous, sometimes purple-tinged, 3-7-striate, unequal, margins scarious (often ciliate); outer ovate to lance-ovate (puberulent, often densely gland-dotted, apices acute to acuminate), inner lanceolate (± gland-dotted, apices obtuse to aristate). Florets 6-35; corollas pale yellow, yellow-green, pinkish lavender, or maroon, 4.5-6 mm. Cypselae 2.7-5.5 mm, glabrous or strigose, sometimes hispidulous or velutinous and/or gland-dotted; pappi of 20-28 white or tawny, usually plumose or subplumose, sometimes barbellate, bristles.

FNA 2006, Heil et al 2013

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Perennial herb, 30-200 cm tall, often from a woody base; stems pubescent, diffusely branching.

Leaves: Mostly opposite (can be alternate in some varieties), sessile or on short petioles to 1 cm long; blades linear to lanceolate or lance-rhombic, 2-10 cm long, 1 mm to 4 cm wide, bases acute, apices obtuse to acuminate, margins entire to dentate, faces glandular-pubescent, with a prominent midvein.

Flowers: Flower heads discoid, arranged in panicles, on glandular-pubescent peduncles up to 10 cm long; involucre (ring of bracts wrapped around flower head) cylindric to narrowly campanulate, 7-15 mm high, the bracts (phyllaries) 22-26 in 4-6 series, green to straw-colored, sometimes purple-tinged, 3-7 striate, unequal, margins scarious, often ciliate; florets 6-35, all discs, the corollas pale yellow, yellow-green, pinkish lavender to maroon, 4-6 mm.

Fruits: Achenes 3-5 mm, glabrous or strigose, sometimes hispidulous or velutinous to gland-dotted, with a pappus of of 20-28 white or tawny, usually plumose or subplumose bristles.

Ecology: Found on mesas, slopes, and openings in pine forests, from 4,500-7,500 ft (457-2286 m); flowers May-October.

Distribution: Most of eastern N. America; from AZ north to MT and east to PA and NJ; south through FL and to c MEX.

Notes: Brickellia is a genus of shrubs and perennial herbs with all disc flowers, these usually white to cream colored; flower heads wrapped in several rows of bracts (phyllaries), the outer rows shorter than the inner rows; and 10-nerved seeds topped with white tufts of bristles. B. eupatoroides is distinguished by being a subshrub with mostly opposite, linear or oblong leaves; short-hairy and gland-dotted phyllaries; and pappus of plumose bristles that, in seed, help the fruits blow in the wind. (Use a hand lens to see that the bristles are plumose, or feathery.) In our region this species has three varieties: var. chlorolepis, var. gracillima, and var. eupatorioides. Var. chlorolepis has narrow leaves, 1-3 mm wide, with 1 nerve only, and involucres 8-13 mm high. Var. eupatorioides has wider leaves, 5-40 mm wide, with 1-3 nerves, and comparable sized involucres 7-11 mm high. Var. gracillima has very narrow leaves, 1 mm or less wide, shorter involucres, 5-10 mm high, and fewer florets per flower head than the other varieties (9-13). Variety chlorolepis is the most widespread in this region; its growth form is often diffusely branching from the base.

Ethnobotany: Decoction of the root is taken for old injury or cough.

Etymology: Brickellia is named for Dr. John Brickell (1749-1809), a botanist and physician in Georgia; eupatorioides refers to its being like the genus Eupatorium.

Synonyms: Kuhnia eupatorioides, Kuhnia rosmarinifolia

Editor: SBuckley 2010, FSCoburn 2014, AHazelton 2015

Brickellia eupatorioides image
Brickellia eupatorioides image
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Brickellia eupatorioides image
Brickellia eupatorioides image
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Steve Hurst  
Brickellia eupatorioides image
John Hilty  
Brickellia eupatorioides image
John Hilty  
Brickellia eupatorioides image
John Hilty  
Brickellia eupatorioides image
Peter Gorman  
Brickellia eupatorioides image
Steve Hurst  
Brickellia eupatorioides image
Peter Gorman  
Brickellia eupatorioides image