Parthenium hysteropherus
Family: Asteraceae
Plant Description: Annual, 3-23 cm high, with 1- to 2-pinnatifid leaves 10-20 cm long, strong smell, alternate leaves, twice-lobed. Flower heads in corymbs, mostly 3-5 mm wide. Disks and rays white or greenish white; disk flowers infertile.
Plant Trivia: A pest weed and hay fever plant.
Field Identification: Flowers resemble tiny cabbages.
Occurrence: Common on various soils in waste places and fields and along roads or sometimes in pastures and woods.
Bloom Period: Spring – Fall
Plant Use:
Key to the species of Parthenium:
- Upper leaves mostly pinnatifid……………………………………………….P. confertum
Upper leaves entire or slightly lobed……………………. ………..P. histerophorus
stxflora 