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Purple cudweed facts for kids

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Purple cudweed
Starr 081230-0572 Gamochaeta purpurea.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
(unranked):
(unranked):
(unranked):
Order:
Family:
Tribe:
Gnaphalieae
Genus:
Gamochaeta
Species:
G. purpurea
Binomial name
Gamochaeta purpurea
Synonyms

Gnaphalium purpureum

Gamochaeta purpurea, the purple cudweed, purple everlasting, or spoonleaf purple everlasting, is a plant native to North America.

Description

It is a small annual herb that produces lanceolate, alternate, wooly leaves and peg-shaped flowerheads in terminal clusters. The seeds are windborne.

Habitat

It can grow on most any type of soil that is moderately moist, but prefers meadows, rocky terrain, and farmland.

Conservation status in the United States

It is listed as endangered in Massachusetts and New York, as possibly extirpated in Maine, as historical in Rhode Island, and as a special concern species in Connecticut, where it is believed extirpated.

Ethnobotany

The Houma people take a decoction of the dried plant for colds and influenza.

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