Pluchea foetida (L.) DC.

Stinking Camphorweed; Stinking Fleabane; Marsh Fleabane

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Stinking Camphorweed is a native herbaceous species in the Sunflower family (Asteraceae). It can be found in the southern half of Alabama. Stinking Camphorweed occurs along the margins of ponds and streams, in wet roadside ditches, and in wet forests. It is an annual or short-lived perennial with a fibrous root system, and sometimes a short rhizome. Stems are erect, one to three feet in height, unbranched or branched near the top, arachnose pubescent, and glandular. The stems are often purplish in color. Leaves are alternate, sessile with clasping bases, elliptic or oblong in outline, thick in texture, and with serrate margins. The leaf surfaces are pubescent and minutely sessile-glandular. All parts of the plant are aromatic when crushed, with a strong fetid odor. Flowers are produced in heads containing only disc flowers. The heads are arranged in campanulate inflorescences. The phyllaries are creamy-white (rarely slightly pinkish), thinly arachnoid-pubescent, and sessile-glandular. The corollas are creamy-white in color. The fruit is an achene with pappus of barbellate bristles.—A. Diamond.

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Native

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