365 Urban Species. #183: Hairy Galinsoga

[urbpan]

Photo by urbpan. Location: Perkins street sidewalk, near the Jamaicaway, Boston.

Urban species #184: Hairy Galinsoga Galinsoga ciliata

Chances are that if you're a gardener, your blood pressure went up a few points seeing the above picture. If you aren't, the plant may seen hopelessly nondescript, but gardeners quickly learn to recognize the hairy, alternate leaves, and the incomplete daisylike flowers that follow. Hairy galinsoga likes to grow in cultivated places like crop fields and gardens, and it produces several generations in a single season. You may start pulling galinsogas out of your garden in June, and find yourself still pulling out new sprouts in August. In the city it grows in cultivated plots, but also in sidewalk cracks and along building foundations. Hairy galinsoga is plant native to Central and South America, and seems to have been introduced to other places as a botanical curiosity. Curious indeed! Hairy galinsoga is a citizen of the world, now, found in gardens--and cities--around the globe.

Each tiny blossom (a cluster of flowers) is just a few millimeters across.




Smallflower galinsoga, G. parviflora gathered around a utility pole on Brookline Ave. in Boston. Smallflower galinsoga pictures by cottonmanifesto.