Baccharis halimifolia

Baccharis halimifolia
Photo by John R. Gwaltney, Southeastern Flora.com
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class:	Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae ⁄ Compositae
Genus:	Baccharis
Species:	B. halimifolia
Binomial name
Baccharis halimifolia L.
Natural range of Baccharis halimifolia from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common name: eastern baccharis

Description

A description of Baccharis halimifolia is provided in The Flora of North America.

Baccharis genus are dioecious, glabrous shrubs. They are rarely small trees. The leaves are alternate, fleshy, toothed or entire. The heads pedunculated or sessile, most of the time in 3-5 glomerules. The involucres are cylindric, 4-5 mm long, 2.5-3.5 mm broad. The bracts are imbricate, sometimes purplish in color, and obtuse. The flowers are discoid and yellowish in color. The nutlets are tan in color, lustrous, cylindric, 10-ribbed, glabrous, and 1.2-1.5 mm long. The pappus bristles are white to tan in color. The capillary is 7-10 mm long. (Radford 1964).

Specifically for B. halimifolia, is a shrub, growing to approximately 1-4 m tall. The leaves are elliptic to obovate, rarely ovate; are coarsely serrate but mostly towards the apex, rarely entire. The leaves grow 3-7 cm long and 1-4 cm wide. The petioles are 5-12 mm long. The involucres are mostly in pedunculated glomerules (Radford 1964).

Ecology

Pollination

The following Hymenoptera families and species were observed visiting flowers of Baccharis halimifolia' at Archbold Biological Station (Deyrup 2015):

Apidae: Apis mellifera

Apidae: Bombus impatiens

Colletidae: Colletes mandibularis, C. simulans, C. thysanellae

Halictidae: Agapostemon splendens, Augochlora pura, Augochlorella aurata, Augochloropsis metallica, Halictus poeyi, Lasioglossum miniatulus, L. nymphalis, L. puteulanum, Sphecodes heraclei

Leucospidae: Leucospis affinis

Leucospididae: Leucospis affinis, L. robertsoni, L. slossonae

Pompilidae: Anoplius atramentaius, A. parsoni, Episyron conterminus posterus, Poecilopompilus algidus, P. interruptus

Sphecidae: Bicyrtes quadrifasciata, Cerceris blakei, C. flavofasciata floridensis, C. tolteca, Ectemnius decemmaculatus tequesta, E. rufipes ais, Larra bicolor, Oxybelus decorosum, O. laetus fulvipes, Palmodes dimidiatus, Philanthus ventilabris, Tachytes distinctus, T. floridanus, T. pepticus, T. validus

Vespidae: Pachodynerus erynnis, Parancistrocerus salcularis rufulus, Polistes bellicosus, P. dorsalis hunteri, P. fuscatus, P. metricus, P. perplexus, Stenodynerus beameri, S. fundatiformis, S. lineatifrons, Vespula squamosa, Zethus slossonae, Zethus spinipes

References and notes

Deyrup, M.A. 2015. Database of observations of Hymenoptera visitations to flowers of plants on Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA.