Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium

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

Common names: Rabbit Tobacco or Sweet Everlasting (Nelson 2005).

Description

A description of Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium is provided in The Flora of North America.

Distribution

It is found in medium-sized gaps in a study investigating the interacting effects of overstory removal and ungulate herbivory in a hemlock hardwood forest in Alberta, Michigan (Holmes and Webster 2011).

Ecology

Habitat

In the Coastal Plain in Florida, P. obtusifolium can be found in mesic hardwoods, turkey oak scrubs, longleaf pine/scrub oak stands, pine flatwoods, bordering cattail marshes, sand ridges, cypress pond margins, annually burned pine savannas, and annually burned mature longleaf pine-wiregrass communities (FSU Herbarium; Nelson 2005). It can also be found in roadside ditches, and open fields. Soil types include loamy sand, peat soils, sandy loam, and clay soil (FSU Herbarium). Associated species include slash pine, loblolly bay, longleaf pine, wiregrass, Liatris, Panicum, Leptoloma cognata, Polygonella, and Amphicarpum (FSU Herbarium). It has been observed that five to eight years after thinning a longleaf pine stand there was an increase in the frequency of P. obtusifolium (Harrington et al. 2011).

Phenology

It flowers August through October (FSU Herbarium)

Pollination

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

Sphecidae: Cerceris blakei

References and notes

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

• Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: July 2015. Collectors: Loran C. Anderson, David Hall, Gary Schultz, Cecil R Slaughter, A. F. Clewell, R.K. Godfrey, R. E. Perdue, Jr., Rev. Robert Brinker, James P. Gillespie, C. Jackson, Paul L. Redfearn, Jr., Richard S. Mitchell, Gary R. Knight, H. E. Grelen, H. Larry Stripling, D. B. Ward, E. S. Ford, R. Komarek, William D. Reese, Dianne Hall, MacClendons, G. Wilder. States and Counties: Florida: Bay, Calhoun, Citrus, Clay, Dixie, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Hamilton, Jackson, Lafayette, Leon, Liberty, Nassau, Putnam, Volusia, Wakulla. Georgia: Grady, Thomas. Compiled by Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy.

• Harrington, T. B. 2011. Overstory and understory relationships in longleaf pine plantations 14 years after thinning and woody control. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 41: 2301-2314.

• Holmes, S. A. and C. R. Webster 2011. Herbivore-induced expansion of generalist species as a driver of homogenization in post-disturbance plant communities. Plant Ecology 212: 753-768.

• Nelson, Gil. East Gulf Coastal Plain Wildflowers. A Field Guide to the Wildflowers of the East Gulf Coastal Plain, including Southwest Georgia, Northwest Florida, Southern Alabama, Southern Mississippi, and Parts of Southeastern Louisiana. Guilford, CT: Falcon, 2005. 115. Print.