Gamochaeta purpurea

Gamochaeta purpurea, the purple cudweed, purple everlasting, or spoonleaf purple everlasting, is a plant native to North America.[1]

Gamochaeta purpurea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Tribe:	Gnaphalieae
Genus:	Gamochaeta
Species:	G. purpurea
Binomial name
Gamochaeta purpurea (L.) Cabrera
Synonyms
Gnaphalium purpureum

Description

It is a small annual herb that produces lanceolate, alternate, wooly leaves and peg-shaped flowerheads in terminal clusters. The seeds are windborne.

Habitat

It can grow on most any type of soil that is moderately moist, but prefers meadows, rocky terrain, and farmland.

Conservation status in the United States

It is listed as endangered in Massachusetts and New York, as possibly extirpated in Maine, as historical in Rhode Island,[2] and as a special concern species in Connecticut, where it is believed extirpated.[3]

Ethnobotany

The Houma people take a decoction of the dried plant for colds and influenza.[4]

Gallery

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References

1. "Plants Profile for Gamochaeta purpurea (spoonleaf purple everlasting )". plants.usda.gov. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
2. "Plants Profile for Gamochaeta purpurea (spoonleaf purple everlasting )". plants.usda.gov. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
3. "Connecticut's Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern Species 2015". State of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Bureau of Natural Resources. Retrieved 1 January 2018. (Note: This list is newer and updated from the one used by plants.usda.gov)
4. Speck, Frank G., 1941, A List of Plant Curatives Obtained From the Houma Indians of Louisiana, Primitive Man 14:49-75, page 64