Cottony Golden Aster

Chrysopsis gossypina is a highly variable species with a confusing range of variation in habit, leaf shape, indument, and phyllary traits. The very different-looking extremes that closely resemble other species appear to be the result of local adaptation and loss of one or the other ancestral parental traits from the allopolyploid genome. Three subspecies are recognized with mostly allopatric ranges. Intermediates between subspecies occur in areas where the ranges overlap in panhandle Florida.

Interspecific hybridization occurs in panhandle Florida near the coast between this species and C. godfreyi (J. C. Semple and C. C. Chinnappa 1980), and possibly also with C. linearifolia.

Biennials, or short-lived perennials, 20–70 cm; taprooted (propagating by basal rosettes at proximalmost nodes of old stems and at ends of rhizomes and roots). Stems 1–5(–80 in subsp. cruiseana; from rosette), procumbent, ascending, or erect (sometimes purple-tinged), simple or branched, glabrous or densely woolly, proximally often sparsely glandular, distally sometimes densely so or eglandular. Leaves: (perennating rosettes often sparsely woolly); basal sessile, blades oblanceolate, 3–10 × 1–3 cm, margins sometimes apically dentate, faces sparsely to densely long-woolly; cauline leaves spreading to ascending, blades linear to linear-lanceolate, oblanceolate, oblong, or ovate-elliptic, reduced distally, margins entire, piloso-ciliate, apices obtuse to acute, sometimes mucronate, faces sparsely to densely woolly, sometimes glabrescent. Heads 1–30 in compact to lax subumbelliform to corymbiform arrays. Peduncles 1–6 cm, glabrous, woolly, or sparsely to densely stipitate-glandular; bracts and bracteoles oblong to lanceolate or linear (margins often ciliate), glabrous or woolly, eglandular or sparsely to densely stipitate-glandular. Involucres campanulate to hemispheric, 8–13 mm. Phyllaries in 4–5 series, linear to linear-oblanceolate, 0.6–1.1 mm wide, strongly to weakly unequal, apices usually appressed, sometimes spreading or recurved, usually acute, sometimes attenuate, faces usually glabrate, sparsely to densely woolly, or sparsely to densely stipitate-glandular, rarely eglandular. Ray florets (9–)16–30; laminae 7–12 × 1.5–3 mm. Disc florets 25–70; corollas 6–7.5 mm, lobes 0.5–1 mm. Cypselae 2.5–3 mm, 0–6-ridged (ridges yellow to red-brown, translucent, clavate), shallowly ribbed, faces sparsely long-strigose; pappi in 3 series, outer of linear to linear-triangular scales 0.5–1 mm, inner of 25–35 bristles 5–8 mm, inner weakly clavate. 2n = 18.

Inula gossypina Michaux, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 122. 1803; Heterotheca gossypina (Michaux) Shinners

The cottony goldenaster, Chrysopsis gossypina, is a member of the sunflower family (family Asteraceae).It occurs in the coastal plain of the southeastern United States, mostly along the Florida panhandle, but extending as far out as Louisiana to the west, and north to Virginia. It likes sandy soils, and grows in the harsh, sunny environments of coastal dune systems and nearby sandhills and scrub.

Cottony goldenasters are short-lived perennials, meaning that individual plants live for 2-3 years. They lose their leaves each winter, and grow anew in the spring from a ring of fuzzy leaves.Although they reach up to about 2.3 feet (70 cm) tall, their multiple stems often fall over as they grow so as larger plantsoccur as vine-like growth along the ground.In the fall, plants can produce up to 30 small, yellow, daisy-shaped flower heads (which are actually composites of multiple tiny individual flowers). The flowers grow so their heads are raised several inches off the sand.

Cottony goldenaster is quite variable over its range.This variability represents three subspecies of Chrysopsis gossypina that grow in mostly non-overlapping areas. The subspecies are primarily distinguished by the fuzziness of their leaves, differences in leaf shape, and mode of growth.

• Chrysopsis gossypina subsp. cruiseana occurs on sand dunes on the coastline and barrier islands of the Florida panhandle and in Alabama. This subspecies, known as Cruise’s goldenaster, is rare and is classified as endangered/threatened by the state of Alabama.
  
• Chrysopsis gossypina subsp. hyssopifolia occurs between Louisiana and Florida.It grows erect, as opposed to along the ground.
  
• Chrysopsis gossypina subsp. gossypina is the most widely spread subspecies, occuring in open areas from Florida to Virginia.It is also the most variable in looks.Three different forms are identified, but a lot of intermediates between these forms also occur.

In the Florida panhandle, where these three subspecies overlap, they can hybridize with each other and also with the closely related C. godfreyi.This hybridization makes the identification of individuals a complex task.

(Adams et al. 2010; Huegel 2009; Semple 2013; Wikipedia 2015)

Chrysopsis gossypina, the cottony goldenaster, is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to the Coastal Plain of the southeastern United States, from eastern Louisiana to southeastern Virginia.

Chrysopsis gossypina is a biennial or short-lived perennial up to 70 cm tall. One plant can produce as many as 30 small, yellow flower heads, each head with both ray florets and disc florets. The species can grow in a variety of habitats and sometimes hybridizes with related species.

Subspecies Chrysopsis gossypina subsp. cruiseana (Dress) Semple - coastal sand dunes in Florida + Alabama Chrysopsis gossypina subsp. gossypina - open areas from Florida to Virginia Chrysopsis gossypina subsp. hyssopifolia (Nutt.) Semple - Louisiana to Florida