Chevreulia acuminata Less.

Chevreul's Sharp Lawn-weed.

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Chevreul's Sharp Lawn-weed is an introduced perennial herb in the Sunflower family (Asteraceae). It is native to South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela). In was recently discovered in North America in eastern Alabama and adjacent western Georgia. In Alabama it has been found in east-central Alabama near the Georgia line. Chevreul's Sharp Lawn-weed occurs in lawns, on roadsides, in cemeteries, and in vacant lots. It is a perennial with procumbent creeping stems. Leaves are basal and cauline, opposite, sessile, oblong-lanceolate in outline, entire, with a prominent mucro tip. The leaves are downy pubescent on both surfaces though less so on the upper. Flowers are produced in heads. The heads are solitary and nearly sessile at flowering with leafless, pubescent peduncles that elongate as the fruit mature to 4-6 inches. The lanceolate phyllaries are in 2-3 slightly graduated series. The outer phyllaries are pubescent basally. The heads contain only disc flowers. The outer flowers are pistillate and the inner are bisexual. The corolla is tubular, greenish-white with purple tips. The fruit is an achene with a long pubescent beak supporting a crown of pappus composed of capillary bristles.—A. Diamond

A native of South America. First discovered in North America, in Lee County, Alabama in 2012.

Not Native

Hansen, C.J., L.E. Urbatsch, and J.F. Pruski. 2019. Noteworth Collections: The first occurrences of Chevreulia acuminata (Gnaphalieae, Asteraceae) in North America. Castanea 84(2): 259-266.