Asteraceae: Sunflower Family – Eupatorieae (Eupatory) Tribe

The Sunflower family is a very large family with over 25,000 members.  Botanists subdivide the family into a number of tribes, of which 14 are present in Monterey County.  The Eupatory tribe has only two representatives in Monterey County.  Neither one looks much like a sunflower, and one is highly invasive.

Sticky Ageratina / Eupatorium, Crofton Weed – Ageratina adenophora

Blooms:

All year

Plant Height:

0.3–1 m

Flower Size:

Medium cluster

Origin:

Mexico

Invasive?

Yes – high

Habitat:

Mild coastal areas

Notes:

Heads are discoid, i.e. with pure white disk flowers only, borne in clusters on tall, leafy stems. The opposite, spade-shaped leaves have round serrations. Widely naturalized and seriously invasive in certain places along the coast.  Photos #2-3 by CJH.

Ageratina, Sticky
Ageratina, Sticky

California Brickellbush – Brickellia californica

Blooms:

Aug–Oct

Plant Height:

0.5–2 m

Flower Size:

Medium

Origin:

Native

Habitat:

Dry slopes or canyons, coastal and inland

Notes:

Moderate sized, many-branched shrub. Leafy, panicle-like clusters of more or less cylindrical heads with exserted, filament-like, greenish-yellow disk flowers.  Each flower head has 5–6 overlapping series of phyllaries, green with purple tinges. The leaves are ovate to spade-shaped, crenate (i.e. with rounded serrations) to serrate.