Pluchea foetida

Pluchea foetida
Photo taken by Gil Nelson
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class:	Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae ⁄ Compositae
Genus:	Pluchea
Species:	P. foetida
Binomial name
Pluchea foetida (L.) DC.
Natural range of Pluchea foetida from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common name: stinking camphorweed

Description

A description of Pluchea foetida is provided in The Flora of North America.

Ecology

Habitat

In the Coastal Plain in Florida and Georgia, P. foetida can be found at edges of creeks and swampy woodlands, bordering deciduous forests, cypress-sweetgum swamps, cabbage palmetto/ water hickory hammocks, marshy areas, flatwood streams, deeply shaded floodplains, moist depression of sandbars, wet drainage bordering savannas, slash pine-wiregrass flatwoods, wiregrass/saw palmetto with scattered pines and cypress bays, swamp forests, open bogs, and semi shaded mesic woods along creek swamps (FSU Herbarium). It has also been documented to grow in sandy ditches bordering slash pine/gallberry flatwoods, clearings of swampy woodlands, and moist depressions along trails. Associated species include slash pine, gallberry, wiregrass, saw palmetto and cypress trees (FSU Herbarium).

It has been observed to grow in shaded and semi-shaded areas (FSU Herbarium). Soil types can include peaty soils, mucky moist loamy sands, coarse sands of a pond shore, and drying loamy soil (FSU Herbarium).

Seed bank and germination

Several short-lived perennial forbs also have a seed bank persistent for at least several years (Platt et al 2006).

References and notes

Platt, W. J., S. M. Carr, et al. (2006). "Pine savanna overstorey influences on ground-cover biodiversity." Applied Vegetation Science 9: 37-50.