Verbesina encelioides (Cav.) Benth. & Hook. var. exauriculata Rob. & Greenm.   Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)   Arizona to Great Plains   Earless Crown- Beard

                            September Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Much-branched erect annual 3-12 dm. high with a taproot; stems canescent; lvs. narrowly lanceolate to deltoid-ovate, acute or acuminate, the blade 4-10 cm. long, saliently dentate, white-strigose, greener on upper surface, on slender petioles; invol. 7-12 mm. high, 10-15 mm. wide, scarcely graduate, densely strigose, the phyllaries slender; rays 10-15 mm. long, fertile; disk-aks. when fully mature turning from black to whitish-olive and the canescent corky wing of uniform width becoming more prominent.

Habitat:  A weed of field-borders, etc.; V. Grassland, Coastal Sage Scrub, etc.; Riverside Co. to Ventura Co.; cent. valley of Calif.; Ariz. to Kans., Mex.  May-Dec.  Introduced in California scatteringly from the Salinas River in Monterey County southward to Los Angeles and Ventura Counties; also occurring in Fresno and Kern Counties. (Abrams, Vol. IV 127).

Name:  Verbesina, from Verbena, because of the foliage resemblance.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 239).  Encelioides, like Encelia.  Exauriculata, without ears, referring to the lack of auriculate ears as on var. encelioides. (my comments).

General:  Uncommon in the study area with only two or three plants known and these in one small area near the Interpretive Center where their seeds were probably strays in a hydromulch mix applied in  2001. (my comments).             Toxic to livestock but unpalatable. (Hickman, Ed. 356).             Over 100 species of warm temperate to tropical North and South America.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 239).

Text Ref:  Munz, Flora So Calif. 239;  Hickman, Ed.

Photo Ref: Sept. 02 #16A,17A,18A.

Identity: by R. De Ruff, confirmed by John Johnson.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 539.

Have plant specimen.

Last edit 9/5//03.

                                         September Photo