Baccharis halimifolia L.

Freely branched shrubs 1–3(–4) m, glabrous and somewhat glutinous, the branches and invols sometimes minutely scurfy; lvs short-petiolate, the blade thick and firm, puncticulate, elliptic to broadly obovate, coarsely few-toothed, especially distally, to ca 6 × 4 cm, those of the infl smaller, narrower, and mostly entire; heads numerous in small, pedunculate clusters, forming terminal, leafy-bracteate infls on the major branches; pistillate invols 4–6.5 mm, the bracts strongly imbricate in several series, the inner ones narrow and ± acute; pappus white, that of the pistillate fls much exceeding the cors and invols in fr, that of the sterile heads shorter than the fls and with the bristles somewhat fringed distally; 2n=18. Marshes and beaches, especially near the seashore; Mass. to Fla., Ark., and Tex.; W.I. Aug.–Nov.

Open woods, thickets and borders of marshes near the coast, often in saline soils. Open sandy places, wet fields, marshes, beaches, disturbed sites, roadsides, old fields; at elevations up to 100 metres.

Can be grown by cuttings or seedlings.