Pseudelephantopus spicatus (B.Juss. ex Aubl.) Rohr

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Asteraceae

  • Scientific Name

    Pseudelephantopus spicatus (B.Juss. ex Aubl.) Rohr

  • Description

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    Species Description - Erect herb to ca. 1 m tall; stems striate, angled toward apex, but cylindrical toward base. Leaves cauline, 4-17 x 0.7-4.2 cm, oblanceolate (on vegetative parts of stems) or lanceolate (in flowering branches), chartaceous, sparsely puberulent to glabrous on both surfaces, also glandular on lower surface, the apex acute, the base attenuate, often narrowly so and resembling a winged petiole, the margins sinuate to more commonly serrulate. Inflorescence of several spicate-glomerate leafy branches, 1-3 heads sessile or nearly so in each axil of the several to many lanceolate leafy bracts. Heads to 12 x 2-3.5 mm; involucre to 11 x 2-3.5 mm , 2-3-seriate; involucral bracts lanceolate, green-tipped, strawcolored at base, inner ones lightly glandular at apex, involucral bracts otherwise glabrous, the outer 4 in 2 unequal pairs about half the length of the subequal inner 4 involucral bracts. Corollas 6-7 mm long, cream-colored, glabrous. Achenes 4-7 mm long, pubescent on the ribs, glandular in the furrows; pappus of 8-10 subequal bristles, the 4 longer ca. 6 mm long, 2 of these twicefolded near tips.

    Distribution and Ecology - Occasional along roadsides and in other disturbed areas. Cruz Bay Quarter along Center Line Road (A4160). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Tortola; throughout much of the West Indies and the neotropics, introduced into Florida, Africa, Asia, the Pacific region, and Australia.

  • Discussion

    Common name: bulltongue bush.