Gamochaeta purpurea (L.) Cabrera
Family: Asteraceae, Tribe: Gnaphalieae
Pertinent Synonyms & Notes (particularly those used in California; go to GRIN for other synonyms)
Gnaphalium purpureum L.
Pertinent Common Names (particularly those used in California; go to GRIN for other common names)
spoonleaf purple cudweed
Primary Disseminule Type
fruit (usually with pappus missing)
Description (diagnostics are in brown)
Fruit a cypsela, oblong to mildly oblanceolate, plump to somewhat puckered, sometimes slightly dorsally curved base towards apex, mildly compressed, cross-section ± elliptic to oblong to 4-sided, 0.6–0.8(0.9) mm long x 0.2–0.3 mm wide x 0.1–0.2 mm thick. Surface tan to brown (darker at the ends), minutely papillate, glabrous, with a light sheen, sometimes with 1+ thin longitudinal ridges, particularly on the dorsal side. Pappus of numerous whitish bristles, fused at the base to form a ring, easily deciduous as a unit.
Style base inconspicuous, apical scar ca. 0.1 mm across.
Fruit attachment scar basal, white, shiny, ring-like, often with extraneous tissue attached.
Similar Species
Similar Species Comparison Chart
Risk Assessment (codes in yellow or red indicate cause for concern; assessments are current as of mid-2011; click AUQP, NZBORIC, or NZBPI for access to the most recent versions of these databases and possible assessment changes)
AUQP, AUWP, NZWP, NZBORIC, NZBPI