Scientific name Heterotheca Rank Genus | Higher classification Astereae | |
 | ||
Lower classifications Heterotheca grandiflora, Heterotheca sessiliflora, Heterotheca canescens, Heterotheca oregona | ||
Heterotheca, (common names golden asters, false goldenasters, camphorweed, or telegraph weed) are North American plants in the sunflower family.
Contents
Heterotheca garden plants
Etymology
Heterotheca comes from Ancient Greek ἕτερος héteros "other, different" and θήκη thḗkē "case, chest", and refers to the fact that, in some species in the genus, the cypselae (achenes containing seed) of the disk and ray florets have different shapes.
Description, biology
These are annual and perennial herbs bearing daisy-like flower heads with yellow disc florets and usually yellow ray florets, associated with mesic to xeric habitats across North America. Several species now included in Heterotheca were previously classified in the genus Chrysopsis
Heterotheca species are often used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Schinia lynx, Schinia nubila and Schinia saturata (all of which have been recorded on Heterotheca subaxillaris).
Chemistry
The leaf volatiles from which the name "camphorweed" is derived include camphor, but as a minor constituent (less than 2%); of the 41 documented volatiles in a study of Heterotheca subaxillaris, for example, caryophyllene, pinene, borneol, myrcene, and limonene each comprised over 5% of the total.
Species
- Heterotheca barbata (Rydb.) Semple - Spokane golden aster - Washington Idaho
- Heterotheca brandegeei (B.L.Rob. & Greenm.) Semple - northern Baja California
- Heterotheca camporum (Greene) Shinners - Arkansas Missouri Iowa Illinois Ohio Michigan Kentucky Tennessee Mississippi Alabama Georgia Virginia North Carolina New Jersey
- Heterotheca canescens (DC.) Shinners - Nuevo León, Texas New Mexico Oklahoma Colorado Kansas Missouri Iowa
- Heterotheca fastigiata (Greene) V.L.Harms - California
- Heterotheca fulcrata (Greene) Shinners - Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Arizona New Mexico Texas Nevada Utah Colorado Wyoming Idaho
- Heterotheca grandiflora - Telegraphweed - Baja California, California Arizona Nevada Utah
- Heterotheca gypsophila B.L.Turner - Nuevo León
- Heterotheca inuloides Cass. - Mexican arnica - from Nuevo León to Oaxaca
- Heterotheca jonesii (S.F.Blake) S.L.Welsh & N.D.Atwood - Utah
- Heterotheca leptoglossa DC. - Guanajuato, Chihuahua, Sonora, Sinaloa, Jalisco, San Luis Potosí
- Heterotheca marginata Semple - Arizona
- Heterotheca mexicana V.L.Harms ex B.L.Turner - Durango
- Heterotheca monarchensis D.A.York, Shevock & Semple - monarch golden aster - Fresno County in California
- Heterotheca mucronata V.L.Harms ex B.L.Turner - Nuevo León, Coahuila, Tamaulipas
- Heterotheca oregona (Nutt.) Shinners
- Heterotheca pumila (Greene) Semple - Colorado Wyoming Utah New Mexico
- Heterotheca rutteri (Rothr.) Shinners - Sonora, Arizona
- Heterotheca sessiliflora (Nutt.) Shinners - Sessileflower false golden aster - Baja California, California
- Heterotheca shevockii (Semple) Semple - Kern Canyon false golden aster - Kern County in California
- Heterotheca stenophylla (A.Gray) Shinners - Texas New Mexico Oklahoma Colorado Wyoming Kansas Nebraska South Dakota Iowa Minnesota
- Heterotheca subaxillaris (Lam.) Britton & Rusby - Camphorweed - widespread from Belize to California, South Dakota, + Massachusetts
- Heterotheca villosa (Pursh) Shinners
- Heterotheca viscida (A.Gray) V.L.Harms - Arizona New Mexico Texas
- Heterotheca zionensis Semple - Zion golden aster - Arizona New Mexico Texas Utah Idaho Wyoming
Sources:
Formerly included
Many species have been included in Heterotheca at various times in the past, but now regarded as more suitable for other genera. The most common of these is Chrysopsis, but others include Aster Bradburia Osbertia Munnozia Pityopsis + Tomentaurum.