Common name: Purple Cudweed
Gamochaeta purpurea (L.) Cabrera APNI* Synonyms: Gnaphalium americanum Mill. APNI*
Gnaphalium purpureum L. APNI*
Description: Slender herb 10–35 cm high.
Basal leaves in a rosette, spathulate or obovate, 5–12 cm long, 8–20 mm wide, upper surface green and glabrescent, lower surface white-tomentose; cauline leaves similar but smaller and narrower.
Heads 1.5–3 mm diam., in axillary clusters forming dense spikes, surrounded by several leafy, white-tomentose bracts; involucral bracts oblong, broad-acute, shining, straw-coloured, scarious, hyaline at the tip.
Achenes 0.5 mm long, oblong-elliptic to obovate, microscopically papillate, straw-coloured to orange-brown. Pappus bristles cohering at the base, c. 2 mm long, minutely barbellate.
Flowering: mainly October–January
Distribution and occurrence: Grows in disturbed areas, chiefly from Bellangry to Canberra. Native of C & S Amer.
NSW subdivisions: *NC, *CC, *SC, *NT, *CT, *ST, *SWS, *SWP, *LHI
Text by E.A. Brown
Taxon concept: as under Gnaphalium americanum in Flora of NSW Vol. 3 (1992)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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