Brintonia

Brintonia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Subfamily: Asteroideae
Tribe: Astereae
Genus: Brintonia
Greene
Species: B. discoidea
Binomial name
Brintonia discoidea
(Elliott) Greene
Synonyms[1]
  • Solidago discoidea (Elliott) Torr. & A.Gray
  • Aster discoideus Elliott

Brintonia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the sunflower family, containing the single species Brintonia discoidea. It is known commonly as the rayless mock goldenrod.[2][3] It is native to the southeastern United States, where it is distributed in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi.[2][4]

Brintonia discoidea is a perennial herb growing up to 1.5 meters tall from a thick rhizome. The erect, unbranched stem is lightly hairy. The alternately arranged leaves have rough-haired serrated blades up to 10 centimeters long on winged petioles. The inflorescence is a wide array of several flower heads. Each head contains up to 20 disc florets with bright green tubes and whitish or pinkish corollas and pinkish anthers. The fruit is a ribbed cypsela with a pappus of many white or purple-tipped bristles.[2]

The plant occurs on the Gulf Coastal Plain in sandy, swampy habitat.[3]

It is sometimes still treated as a species of Solidago,[5] but DNA evidence and several aspects of its morphology support its separation from that genus.[6]

References

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