Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Gamochaeta purpurea

Flowering stem. Photographer Russell Best, north of Melbourne

Flowering plant. Photographer Jackie Miles

Plants. Photographer Jackie Miles

Line drawings in Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. Vol. 3: 456.

Common name

Purple cudweed, Purplish cudweed

Family

Asteraceae

Where found

Gardens, footpaths, and other disturbed and damp sites. Widespread, mostly in the Sydney area, Blue Mountains, and the ACT.

Notes

Introduced annual or perennial herb to 0.5 m tall. Stems tomentose. Basal rosette leaves persisting at flowering, 1-12 cm long, 5-20 mm wide, upper surface green with sparse hairs, midvein similar in colour to the surface, lower surface white tomentose, margins sometimes wavy, tips blunt to pointed. Stem leaves alternating up the stems, similar, 1-3 cm long, progressively smaller and relatively narrower toward (and within) the flower clusters. Flower heads 4-4.5 mm long, 1.5-3 mm in diameter, with 0 ’petals’. Florets with purple tips when young, becoming whitish or slightly silvery at maturity. Bracts tightly surrounding the flower heads shining, straw-coloured, chaffy, translucent at the tips. Flower heads in clusters at the bases of the leaves, forming a dense spike. Flowers mainly Spring to Summer.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Gamochaeta~purpurea (accessed 16 April 2021)

Flora North America description:  http://efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242416575 (accessed 16 April 2021)