Ageratum littorale

Ageratum littorale
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Tribe: Eupatorieae
Genus: Ageratum
Species: A. littorale
Binomial name
Ageratum littorale
A. Gray
Synonyms[1][2]
  • Ageratum intermedium Hemsley
  • Carelia littorale (A. Gray) Kuntze

Ageratum littorale, common name Cape Sable Whiteweed, is a plant species native to Florida, the common name referring to Cape Sable inside Everglades National Park. Some publications (e. g. Flora of North America[3]) consider this as being the same species as the West Indian A. maritimum, but The Plant List[1] accepts the two as distinct taxa. It is their lead that we are following here.


Ageratum littorale grows in beach sand and nearby thickets along the coast as well as hummocks and roadsides at elevations of less than 10 m (33 feet). It is a trailing to decumbent perennial herb up to 50 cm (20 inches) tall, spreading by means of underground rhizomes. Stems are glabrous except at the nodes. Leaf blades are ovate to oblong, up to 4 cm (1.6 inches) long. Flowers are blue, lavender or white, in cyme-like arrays.[4][5][6][7]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 The Plant List, Ageratum littorale
  2. Tropicos
  3. Flora of North America v 21 p 482
  4. Gray, Asa. 1880. Notes on Some Compositae 78.
  5. Long, R. W. & O. K. Lakela. 1971. Flora of Tropical Florida: A Manual of the Seed Plants and Ferns of Southern Peninsular Florida i–xvii, 1–962. University of Miami Press, Coral Cables.
  6. Cronquist, A.J. 1980. Asteraceae. 1: i–xv, 1–261. In Vascular Flora of the Southeastern United States. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.
  7. Wunderlin, R. P. 1998. Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida i–x, 1–806. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.