Hypochaeris microcephala (Sch. Bip.) Cabrera var. albiflora (Kuntze) Cabrera

White Flowered Cat's Ear

Herb

Biennial

Vascular

White Flowered Cat's Ear is an introduced perennial member of the Aster family (Asteraceae). It is native to South America. It has been introduced into the United States, and occurs from Georgia to Texas. In Alabama, it is known from the southern-most counties of Baldwin, Mobile, and Houston. It was first collected in Alabama in 2013. White Flowered Cat's Ear occurs on roadsides, in lawns, around fields, and in disturbed woodlands. It is a perennial with a large, woody tap root. Leaves form a basal rosette, with reduced leaves on the flowering stems. Leaves are oblanceolate in outline with entire, dentate, or pinnatifid margins. Leaves are glabrous or glabrate (becoming glabrous with age). Flowering stems are 12-18 inches in length, simple or branched, and glabrous or sparsely hairy. Flowers are produced in heads. The heads are produced in panicles or corymbs. Only ray flowers are produced. The ray flowers are white. The fruit is an achene. All parts of the plant exude a milky white latex sap when damaged. White Flowered Cat's Ear is similar to the more wide-spread Brazilian Cat's Ear (Hypochaeris chillensis (Kunth) Britton). White Flowered Cat's Ear differs by having narrower involucres, phyllaries that are glabrous or sparsely pubescent, and white corollas. Brazilian Cat's Ear has broadly campanulate involucres, hirsute phyllaries, and yellow corollas.--A. Diamond

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Not Native

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