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• Dyssodia papposa

Dyssodia papposa — fetid-marigold

Facts

Fetid-marigold is a native of the Central United States, and is probably ephemeral in the Northeast. The potential to live up to its common name was noted by C. W. Short in 1837: "This plant is so abundant, and exhales an odor so unpleasant as to sicken the traveler over the western prairies of Illinois, in autumn."

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats), meadows and fields

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Bract color

  • the bracts are colored, or at least tinged with, pink, red or purple
  • the bracts are not colored or tinged with pink, red or purple

  Bract cycle number

  there are two main cycles of bracts

  Bract keels

  the bracts do not have keels

  Bract margins

  there are fine hairs along the bract margins

  Bract outer side hairs

  • the bracts are hairy on their outer surfaces
  • the bracts are not hairy on their outer surfaces

  Bract separation

  the bracts appear completely unconnected to one another on all flower heads

  Bract shape

  • the main bracts are oblanceolate (widest near the tip, but otherwise narrow and tapering)
  • the main bracts are ovate (egg-shaped)

  Bract spines

  the bracts have no spines

  Bract tip color

  the tips are the same color as the center of the bract

  Bract tip orientation

  the bracts are pressed against the plant, or spreading out at the tips

  Bract tip shape

  • the tips of the bracts are obtuse (have a blunt point)
  • the tips of the bracts are rounded
  • the tips of the bracts are truncate (end abruptly in a more or less straight line as though cut off)

  Bracts

  there are at least two distinct forms of bracts in different cycles

  Disk flower color

  • orange
  • yellow

  Disk flower lobe number

  5

  Disk flower number

  • 11-20
  • 21-50
  • more than 50

  Disk flower reproductive parts

  the disk flower has both pollen- and seed-producing parts

  Disk flower shape

  the disk flower is tube-shaped (cylindrical), or gradually widening like a funnel

  Flower head number

  each flowering stem has only one to three flower heads on it

  Flower head outer flowers

  at the outer edge of the flower head, each flower has a single enlarged lobe or strap

  Flower head platform

  the base has no bristles or papery scales

  Flower head platform surface

  NA

  Flower head position

  • each of the flower heads is separate on its own peduncle (stalk), not clustered in groups
  • some or all the flower heads are grouped in clusters of two or more

  Flower head profile

  the disk is rounded across the top

  Flower head shape

  • the flower head is hemispherical (like the bottom half of a sphere)
  • the flower head is shaped like a cone with the point up

  Flower head width

  6–14 mm

  Flower type in flower heads

  the flower head has tubular disk flowers in the center and ray flowers, these often strap-shaped, around the periphery

  Height of flower head base

  6–10 mm

  Inflorescence branching (Solidago)

  NA

  Inflorescence shape

  NA

  Number of bracts at flower head base

  7–21

  Ovary cross-section

  the ovary has five or more corners in cross-section

  Ovary hair type

  • the ovary has hairs on it, but the hairs have no glands
  • the ovary has no hairs on it

  Ovary hairs

  • the ovary has hairs on it
  • the ovary has no hairs on it

  Ovary profile

  in profile, the ovary is another shape

  Peduncle hair type

  • NA
  • the hairs on the peduncles are simple (not branched), don’t have glands, and are not woolly

  Peduncle hairs

  • the peduncles are hairy
  • the peduncles have no hairs

  Peduncle length

  1–10 mm

  Ray flower color

  • orange
  • yellow

  Ray flower reproductive parts

  the ray flowers have carpels or stamens, but not both

  Ray flowers

  • 1-5
  • 6-10

  Ray length

  1.5–2.5 mm

  Reproductive system

  some of the flowers on the plant have only carpels or stamens, while others have both carpels and stamens

  Scale tip

  NA

  Style branch number

  the style has two branches

  Width of flower head base

  5–10 mm

• Fruits or seeds

  Number of pappus parts

  11 or more

  Ovary length in developed fruit

  3–3.5 mm

  Seed hair tuft bases

  the pappus hairs are attached to one another near the base

  Seed hair tuft length

  1–3 mm

  Seed hair tuft tips

  the pappus hairs are slender

  Seed tuft scale number

  15–20

  Seed tuft type

  the pappus is made of flat scales that look split or frayed at the tips

  Top of disk flower ovary

  NA

  Tuft or plume on fruit

  there is no plume, or the plume is made up of scales, awns, a crown, or a rim

• Glands or sap

  Bract resin

  the bracts have resin or resin glands

  Leaf blade glands

  the leaf blades have glandular (translucent) dots or scales

  Sap

  the sap is clear and watery

• Growth form

  Growth form

  the plant has one or more free-standing stems

  Plant lifespan

  • the plant is annual, it lacks evidence of previous years' growth
  • the plant is perennial, it shows evidence of previous year's leaves, stems or stem bases

  Spines on plant

  the plant has no spines

• Leaves

  Hairs on underside of leaf blade

  • the underside of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy
  • the underside of the leaf is not hairy, or has very few hairs

  Hairs on upper side of leaf blade

  • the upper side of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy
  • the upper side of the leaf is not hairy, or has very few hairs

  Leaf arrangement

  opposite: there are two leaves per node along the stem

  Leaf blade base

  • the leaf has a distinct petiole
  • the leaf has no petiole

  Leaf blade base shape

  the base of the leaf blade is cuneate (wedge-shaped, tapers to the base with relatively straight, converging edges), or narrow

  Leaf blade edges

  • the edge of the leaf blade has no teeth or lobes
  • the edge of the leaf blade has teeth

  Leaf blade hairs

  • NA
  • the leaf blade has simple hairs with no glands, and not tangled or wooly

  Leaf blade length

  15–50 mm

  Leaf blade shape

  the leaf blade is linear (very narrow with more or less parallel sides)

  Leaf blade tip

  the tip of the leaf blade is acute (sharply pointed)

  Leaf blade veins

  the leaf blade has one main vein running from the base towards the tip

  Leaf blade width

  10–40 mm

  Leaf disposition

  the leaves are nearly similar in size, prominence of teeth, and length of stalks throughout the stem

  Leaf spines

  there are no spines on the leaf edges

  Leaf stalk

  the leaves have leaf stalks

  Leaf tip extension

  NA

  Leaf type

  leaves are simple (i.e., lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets)

  Specific leaf type

  • the leaf has a row of two or more lobes on each side of the central axis
  • the leaf has a row of two or more lobes on each side of the central axis, and each lobe itself has rows of lobes on each side of the lobe's central axis
  • the leaf has lobes that themselves have lobes, and these secondary lobes also have lobes; there may be more than three levels of lobes

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  • Massachusetts
  • Vermont

  Specific habitat

  • man-made or disturbed habitats
  • meadows or fields

• Scent

  Plant odor

  the plant has an unpleasant or repellant odor

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Flowering stem cross-section

  the flowering stem is circular, or with lots of small angles

  Leaves on stem

  there is at least one full leaf above the base of the flowering stem

  Stem internode hair type

  • the hairs on the stem are plain, without glands or branches, and not tangled
  • the stem has no hairs between the nodes

  Stem internode hairs

  • the stem has hairs between the nodes
  • the stem has no hairs between the nodes

  Stem wings

  the stem does not have wings on it

Wetland status

Not classified

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae