Kingdom: Plantae
(Unranked): Angiosperms
(Unranked): Eudicots
(Unranked): Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Tribe: Gnaphalieae
Genus: Gamochaeta
Species: G. coarctata
Binomial name: Gamochaeta coarctata
Synonym: Gamochaeta spicata, Gnaphalium coarctatum
Common name: Purple cudweed (also used for Gnaphalium purpureum)
Gamochaeta coarctata was originally from South America and is now the commonest of the naturalised spicate (inflorescence on a pike) cudweeds. It is common throughout the North Island, Nelson, Marlborough, Westland and Fiordland. Its habitat is wet or stony sites, river-beds, forest margins, lawns, pastures and coastal places.
Gamochaeta coarctata is a variable, rosette-forming annual or biennial plant. The shiny hairless basal leaves (2-11 cm long) have no stalk and are broadest towards the tip (2-11 cm long) These leaves undersides are covered in a white tomentose. (See photo)
The small, whitish flower heads (3 mm across) appear during September to March are in dense clusters along an erect flowering spike.
The flowering stalk.
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Tip of a new flowering stalk
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The underside of a leaf.
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The white tomentose.on the underside of a basal leaf.
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Thanks to Wikipedia for text and information:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
