Jersey Cudweed - cosmopolitan (Laphangium luteoalbum)

Other names: Pseudognaphalium luteoalbum.

Family: Asteraceae (Daisy family).

Cosmopolitan.

Occurrence: Widespread and common, often in weedy areas. Also in damp places, lawns and gardens.

Identification:

• it is an erect annual
• the leaves are grey from the covering of woolly hairs
• it has clusters of small flower heads which are along, or at the ends, of the stems
• the petals are yellow and the outside of the flower heads are yellowish.

Similar species: White Cudweed (Vellereophyton dealbatum) is similar in size and habit. It has white petals, and the flowers are woolly on the outside.

Helichrysum was formerly a large genus. All of the local former members of this genus have now been placed in other genera, and Jersey Cudweed reclassified as a laphangium. Some authorities keep Jersey Cudweed as a Pseudognaphalium.

It is not known whether or not the local Jersey Cudweeds are introduced or native.

Photos 1: Dried plants. Franklinford.
2: Jersey Cudweed growing among basalt rocks. Cairn Curran Reservoir.
3: Jersey Cudweed, Harcourt North Reservoir.