Tagetes minuta habit1 (16374839811)

Description:

Description: Introduced, warm-season, annual, hairless, erect, aromatic, shallow-rooted herb to 2 m tall. Leaves are mostly opposite, pinnate and to 10 cm long; leaflets are 3–9, narrow-elliptic to lanceolate, 2–8 cm long, finely toothed and gland-dotted. Flowerheads consist of heads borne in dense terminal panicles. Heads are elongate; involucral bracts are almost completely fused into a tube, yellow-green and marked with interrupted streaks. Ray florets are 2–4, ligulate and yellow. Disc florets are 4-5, tubular and greenish. Flowering is in summer and autumn. A native of South America, it grows on roadsides, disturbed sites, riverbanks and in woodlands. Unpalatable. Plants stink when crushed. May cause facial irritation to stock. Plant oil extracts were used in insect repellents. Control by slashing, hand pulling, developing dense ground cover and registered herbicides. Date: 29 March 2006, 18:26. Source: Tagetes minuta habit1. Author: Harry Rose from South West Rocks, Australia.