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Waxleaf Goldenweed
Grindelia ciliata (Nuttall) Sprengel
(formerly Grindelia papposa G.L. Nesom & Suh)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)
▲ seedlings
▲▼ mature, flowering plants
▲▼ mature, flowering plants
▲▼ stems and leaves, showing ciliate leaf margins
▲▼ plants initiating flowering
▲▼ flower/head buds with broad lanceolate to triangular bracts below head
▲▼ flower/head buds with broad lanceolate to triangular bracts below head
▲▼ flower/head buds with broad lanceolate to triangular bracts below head
▲▼ flowers/inflorescences
▲▼ flowers/inflorescences
▲▼ flowers/inflorescences
▲▼ flowers/inflorescences
▲▼ colonies of plants along roadsides in western Kansas
Grindelia ciliata
(Nuttall) Sprengel, Waxleaf Goldenweed, Spanish Gold,
(formerly
Grindelia papposa G.L. Nesom & Suh):
(Bayer Code:
GRNCI; US Code GRCI4)
·
A U.S. native annual, biennial or short-lived perennial
with round, light-green to yellow-green or straw-colored stems that grow 0.5-4.5
feet tall, with branching mainly in the
upper ½ to 1/3 of plant
·
Leaves are glossy, thick-textured, alternate oval-lanceolate,
with toothed margins and round-pointed tip; leaf bases clasp around stem;
teeth on leaf extend out to hair-like extensions
(“ciliate,” hence the Latin specific epithet, “ciliata”)
·
Head inflorescences are at stem tips, 1-2 inches diameter, with 25-45 yellow ray
flowers (“petals”) and many yellow disk flowers
·
Bracts below the inflorescence are bright green,
elongated triangular to lanceolate, in several overlapping rows, and the tips of
the bracts spread out from the base of the inflorescence, and are slightly to
moderately resinous (gummy)
·
Flowers late summer through mid-autumn
·
Found in dry, disturbed soil, fields, pastures, prairies,
rangeland, right-of-ways, non-cropland
·
Can accumulate selenium in high-selenium soils, leading to
selenium toxicity, if grazed; is generally not palatable to livestock due to
resins and other chemicals in plant
·
Can distinguish from similar
Curlycup Gumweed
(Grindelia
squarrosa) by the curled bracts below the
inflorescence on curlycup gumweed, and the presence of more resin glands on the
leaves and bracts of the plant; also leaf teeth do not have the hair-like
extensions
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