Sickleleaf Silkgrass

Pityopsis falcata grows on deposits left along the front of the Wisconsin Glaciation. It can be locally abundant in open sandy soils. It was collected once along railroad tracks west of Toronto, Ontario, and also along a beach in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1955.

Perennials, (10–)20–30(–40) cm; rhizomes 0.5–5 cm. Stems erect, sometimes reddish brown, sometimes branched distally, striate, sparsely to densely long-sericeous. Leaves: basal usually withering by flowering, shorter than cauline; cauline spreading to ascending, sessile, blades linear, falcate, often conduplicate, apices acuminate; proximal 50–90 × 2–7 mm, glabrate to sparsely sericeous; distal somewhat smaller, glabrate except for margins. Heads (2–)4–10(–25) in corymbiform arrays. Peduncles sparsely bracteolate, 1–4 cm, white-villous. Involucres turbino-campanulate, 5–8 mm. Phyllaries in 5–6 series, apices with tufts of hairs, faces sparsely strigose. Ray florets 9–15; corolla laminae 5–8 mm. Disc florets 30–60; corollas 4.5–6 mm, sparsely pilose near base of limbs, lobes 0.5 mm, sparsely pilose. Cypselae fusiform, 3–4 mm, ribbed, faces strigose; pappi: outer of linear setiform scales 0.5–1 mm, inner of 30–40 bristles 4–6 mm. 2n = 18.

Inula falcata Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. 2: 532. 1813; Chrysopsis falcata (Pursh) Elliott; Heterotheca falcata (Pursh) V. L. Harms; Inula mariana Linnaeus var. ×falcata (Pursh) Nuttall

Botanical illustration

Pityopsis falcata, common names sickleleaf silkgrass and sickle-leaved golden aster, is perennial species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae that is native to the United States and has been introduced to Canada.