White thoroughwort facts for kids
Quick facts for kids White thoroughwort |
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| Eupatorium album var album, 1913 botanical illustration. | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Eupatorium
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| Species: |
album
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| Synonyms | |
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Synonymy
Uncasia alba (L.) Greene
Eupatorium fernaldii R.K.Godfrey Eupatorium glandulosum Michaux Eupatorium petalodium Britton ex Small Eupatorium petaloideum Britton ex Britton Eupatorium stigmatosum Bertol. 1846 not Meyen & Walp. 1843 nor Chodat 1843 Uncasia petaloidea (Britton ex Small) Greene |
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The white thoroughwort (scientific name: Eupatorium album) is a type of plant. It is a herbaceous perennial, which means it has soft stems and lives for more than two years. This plant belongs to the sunflower family.
You can find white thoroughworts in the eastern and southern parts of the United States. They grow from eastern Texas all the way to Connecticut. You can also find them inland as far as Indiana.
Contents
About the White Thoroughwort
What It Looks Like
Like other plants in the Eupatorium group, the white thoroughwort has many small white flowers. These flowers grow in clusters called heads. Each flower head has about 4 to 5 small flowers inside. These are called disc florets. However, it does not have the larger, petal-like flowers known as ray florets.
The white thoroughwort usually grows to be about 50 to 100 centimeters (20 to 39 inches) tall. This makes it one of the shorter plants in the Eupatorium family.
How It's Different
The white thoroughwort can sometimes mix with other Eupatorium plants. This mixing is called hybridizing. It can hybridize with plants like Eupatorium sessilifolium and Eupatorium serotinum.
This plant looks a bit like Eupatorium altissimum. But you can tell them apart by looking at the small leaf-like parts at the base of the flower head. These parts are called bracts. On the white thoroughwort, these bracts get narrower and come to a long point.
Where It Grows
White thoroughworts like to grow in dry, open places. You might see them along power lines, in old fields, or on hillsides where the soil has worn away. They need a lot of sunlight to grow well. Because of this, they do not grow in shady areas under thick trees. However, they can be found in some open woods, like pine barrens.
Different Types of White Thoroughwort
There are a few different types, or varieties, of the white thoroughwort:
- Eupatorium album var. album: This is the most common type. It grows across most of the plant's range.
- Eupatorium album var. subvenosum A. Gray: This variety is found in places like Delaware, District of Columbia, New Jersey, and New York.
- Eupatorium album var. vaseyi (Porter) Cronquist: This type grows from Alabama up to Pennsylvania.
