PlantNET Home DONATE TODAY | PlantNET Home | Search NSW Flora | Contact Us  
FloraOnline
Introduction
Plant Name Search
Index Search
Spatial Search
Identification Keys
Classification
Glossary
WeedAlert
Telopea Journal
Other Data Sources
NEW SOUTH WALES FLORA ONLINE Printable Page

Genus Gamochaeta Family Asteraceae

Description: Annual or perennial herbs with sessile, tomentose leaves.

Leaves basal and cauline; alternate, sessile; linear to oblanceolate to spathulate, densely woolly hairy to glabresent.

Flower heads disciform, small, inconspicuous, in headlike clusters, or in more or less elongated spikes. Outer florets purple, female, filiform and outnumber the central florets. Central florets purple. Anthers with flat appendages. Style branches truncate with hairs apically. Receptacle flat and with no scales.

Pappus of basally connate (united at base), capillary, barbellate bristles, falling as a unit.


Distribution and occurrence: World: 50 species. Native to North and South America, introduced to many parts of the world. Australia 6 species naturalised. NSW: 4 species naturalised.

Text by Lawrence Mou
Taxon concept: Bremer, K. 1994, Kubitzki, K, 2007,

 Key to the species 
1Leaves densely white woolly on both surfaces (looking grey-green)2
Leaves darker than grey-green with fewer hairs (to glabresent) on the upper surface than the lower surface; large leafy annuals with distinct rosettes3
2Involucres not purplish, 3–3.5 mm, bases sparsely cobwebby or glabrous; arrays of heads interrupted; involucral bracts in 5–7 rows, outer ovate-triangular, lengths 1/3–1/2 inner, apices acute-acuminateGamochaeta calviceps
Involucres usually purplish, (at stereome-lamina junctions of involucral bracts), 2.5–3 mm, bases sparsely cobwebby; arrays of heads initially uninterrupted and cylindric; involucral bracts in 3–4(–5) rows, outer ovate-lanceolate, lengths 1/2–2/3 inner, apices narrow to broad acute
                       Back to 1
Gamochaeta antillana
3Heads surrounded by and almost obscured by, long woolly hairs; leaves loosely woolly on lower surfaceGamochaeta pensylvanica
Woolly hairs at the base of the heads limited to the peduncles; leaves with fine, appressed hairs below, or glabrous
                       Back to 1
4
4Leaves with a prominent paler midvein on the upper surface; inflorescences usually a closed spikeGamochaeta coarctata
Leaves concolorous on the upper surface; inflorescences slightly loose and spreading, the heads not held together tightly
                       Back to 3
5
5Flowers with purple tips; basal leaves usually persisting in a rosette at flowering, not clasping or decurrentGamochaeta purpurea
Flowers with yellowish tips; basal leaves usually withering or withered by flowering and not persisting in a rosette, often clasping to main stem but not auriculate
                       Back to 4
Gamochaeta americana

  Privacy | Copyright | Disclaimer | About PlantNET | Cite PlantNET