Texas Gardening: Texas Native Plant Pictures by color ( Other & Bicolor ), 1 by htop

htop wrote:
Narrowleaf marshelder, narrow-leaf sumpweed (Iva angustifolia), Asteraceae Family, native, annual or biennial, blooms flowering occurs from July to October or September thru October depending upon how far north its habitat is

Narrowleaf marshelder is located in all vegetational areas of Texas except the Panhandle Region. In areas of high rainfall, it tends to be habitate elevated, well-drained areas; whereas, in regions of low rainfall, it can be found in drainage ditches, along creek beds and low-laying areas. It inhabits roadsides, disturbed areas, fallow fields, fallow rice fields, wet fresh water marshes, wet meadows, around ponds and lakes and wet prairies.

Narrowleaf marshelder is usually an annual , but can be a biennial. It has fibrous roots and can grow to 6 feet tall; however, it usually reaches half this height. The stems are hairy, erect and branched. The stems of young plants are often purplish. The 2-5" long, 1/2-3" wide leaves are hairy, mostly opposite, simple, oval-shaped, entire or only slightly serrate along margin and pointed at end tips. They are reduced to bracts in the head-bearing area. The yellowish green to cream in colored flowers with no petals are in small heads with several heads arranged in a group of crowded racemes up to 15cm long, each head up to 4mm long. The heads are crowded and inserted in the leaf axils. The flower parts can not be seen with the naked eye. The pollen may cause serious hay fever, asthma snd allergic conjunstivitis. The leaves produce a skin rash in some people. Being a member of the sunflower family, the fruits are achenes. The inconspicuous dry fruits are 2-3mm dark brown, flat, triangular-shaped which contain 1 seed. Narrowleaf marshelder has a scent similar to ragweed and can be mistaken for it. The seeds are eaten by small ground feeding birds, puddle ducks, pheasants and bob-white quail.

Caution: Narrowleaf marshelder is toxic in its early stages of growth. The toxin in is unknown. Being a very abundant plant, it is unavoidably heavily grazed. It has been documented that when cattle ate large amounts of the young plants in the 2- to 8- leaf stage of growth, consumption has been associated with abortions at 4 to 8 months of gestation. Cows in mid-gestation should not be placed in dry pastures that contain areas heavily infested with narrowleaf marshelder. To avoid pre-mature birth during mid-gestation, the time of breeding can be altered so that plants are large enough for cows to ingest with no ill affects. In experiments, rabbits consuming the plant as half of their diet either had stillborn pups or gave birth prematurely or had weak pups that died by 3 days old.

Texas ditribution:
http://plants.usda.gov/java/county?state_name=Texas&statefip...

For more information, see its entry in the PlantFiles:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/82046/index.html