Citation: Desf. ex Poiret, Encycl. Suppl. 5:130 ( 1817).

Synonymy: S. glomeratus Desf., Tabl. école bot. edn 2:124(1815), 124 (1829), nom. nud.; S. argutus A. Rich. in P. Lesson, Voy. l'Astrolabe 1:258 (1832); Erechtites arguta (A. Rich.)DC., Prod. 6:296 (1838); S. multicaulis sensu E. Robertson in J. Black, Fl. S. Aust. 887 (1957), partly, non A. Rich.

Common name: (Annual)fireweed.

Description:
Erect annual herb, 50-120 cm tall; stems stout, branching both basally and at the inflorescence, basally very woody, often internally red-stained, sparsely to densely cobwebby, especially on younger parts; leaves coriaceous, lanceolate to obovate-lanceolate, 5-9 x 1-3 cm or larger, coarsely toothed to lobed, lobes often toothed, sessile with large irregularly toothed auricles, densely cobwebby or tomentose below, sparsely cobwebby or glabrescent above.

Inflorescence a very dense corymbose particle of 100-400 capitula, cobwebby or tomentose on all parts; peduncles 4-9 mm long; involucres 4-5.5 x 2.5-3.5 mm; bracts 11-13; calyculus of 4-8 narrowly triangular appressed bracteoles; female florets 24-33, irregularly 2-4-lobed; disk florets 7-12, 4- or 5-lobed.

Achenes subcylindrical, dark-brown, 1.3-1.7 x 0.4-0.5 mm, hairs short, appressed, in narrow grooves; pappus deciduous, dimorphic.

Distribution:  Temperate regions with more than 600 mm rainfall. In clearings or margins of sclerophyll forests, around inland marshes or locally abundant along roadsides.   W.Aust.; N.S.W.; Vic.; Tas.   New Zealand, United States (adventive in California). Conservation status: native Flowering time: Nov. — Feb.

SA Distribution Map based on current data relating to specimens held in the State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: No text

Author: Not yet available