Blumea membranacea
DC., Prodr. 5: 440. 1836; Hook.f., Fl. Brit.
India 3: 265. 1881.
Herbs, annual; stems simple or branched from base, erect, 0.15-1.5 m tall,
pilose particularly in the younger parts. Leaves ovate-lanceolate or obovate, base
tapering, acute, margins serrate-dentate, 4-18 x 1-6 cm, the upper entire, the
lower lyrately lobed, all hairy on both surfaces. Heads in terminal lax panicles,
clustered at the ends of branches, 5-8 mm in diam., peduncle hairy, glandular,
up to 3 cm long. Involucral bracts pruplish-tinged, slightly longer than florets,
linear, 1-9 mm, pubescent, reflexed, inner with scarious margins. Receptacle
flat or slightly convex, alveolate, glarbous. Corolla of bisexual florets yellow,
tubular, 4-6 mm long, 5-lobed; lobes acute, pubescent; corollas of female florets
filiform, 4-5 mm long, 2-3 -lobed, glabrous. Achenes brown, oblong, ribbed,
pubescent. Pappus white, up to 5 mm long.
Notes. Blumea membranacea DC. is a very variable species. Hooker (1881) segregates this under 6 varieties. Randeria (1960), however, merged all these varieties under Blumea membranacea DC. Further B. jacquemontii of Hook. f. has been reduced to a variety of B. membranacea. Randeria's treatment is followed here.
Notes. Blumea membranacea DC. is a very variable species. Hooker (1881) segregates this under 6 varieties. Randeria (1960), however, merged all these varieties under Blumea membranacea DC. Further B. jacquemontii of Hook. f. has been reduced to a variety of B. membranacea. Randeria's treatment is followed here.
KEY TO THE VARIETIES
| 1a. Plants slender, pubescent; heads 5-6 mm in diam.; involucral bracts herbaceous | 20.2. membranacea |
| b. Plants robust, strigose; heads 7-8 mm in diam.; involucral bracts rigid | 20.1. jacquemontii |
