Emilia fosbergii Nicholson

Florida Tassel Flower

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Tassel Flower is an introduced annual in the Sunflower family (Asteraceae). It is native to tropical Africa and Asia. In Alabama in can be found primarily in the southern half of the state. Tassel Flower occurs in pots with nursery plants, in flower beds, around parking lots, and in other disturbed areas. It is an annual with a tap root. The stems are 1-3 feet in height, simple or branched, green in color, and glabrous or pubescent. Leaves are alternate, the lower petiolate with winged petioles and the upper sessile with auriculate clasping bases. The blades are ovate to oblanceolate or pandurate in outline, weakly toothed to entire, and glabrous or with a few scattered hairs. The flowers are produced in heads. The heads are arranged in corymbs. The heads contain 50-60 pinkish-purple to reddish disc flowers and no ray flowers. The fruit is a 5-ribbed achene with a tuff of 80-100 barbellate white bristles. Tassel Flower is listed in the Global Compendium of Weeds, and is considered an invasive species in some parts of the world.—A. Diamond

**

Not Native

**