Silverling

Found primarily on the Coastal Plain, Baccharis glomeruliflora is recognized by the evergreen leathery leaves with broad teeth, and the small axillary glomerules of heads.

Shrubs, 100–300 cm (evergreen, loosely branched). Stems erect to ascending, striate-angled, glabrous or minutely scurfy, not resinous. Leaves present at flowering (not in fascicles); petioles to 7 mm; blades obovate or elliptic to rhombic, 20–60 × 8–40 mm, leathery, bases cuneate to attenuate, margins serrate (teeth 1–3 per side distal to middles, relatively broad), apices acute, faces glabrous, abaxial black gland-dotted (distal reduced, entire), adaxial eglandular. Heads (1–4, sessile or subsessile) in axillary glomerules scattered along branches. Involucres campanulate to obconic; staminate 4–5 mm, pistillate 5–6 mm. Phyllaries ovate to lanceolate, 1–4 mm, margins scarious, medians green, apices rounded or obtuse (sometimes purplish). Staminate florets 20–30; corollas 4–5 mm. Pistillate florets 15–25; corollas 3–4 mm. Cypselae 1.5–2 mm, 8–10-nerved, glabrous; pappi 8–9 mm.

Baccharis sessiliflora Michaux, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 125. 1803, not Vahl 1794

Baccharis glomeruliflora is a North American species of shrubs in the family Asteraceae known by the common name silverling. It is native to the coastal plain of the southeastern United States, from Mississippi to North Carolina.

Baccharis glomeruliflora is a shrub up to 300 cm (10 feet) tall. It has thick, leathery, evergreen leaves with large teeth, and flower heads clumped together in the axils of the leaves. It grows in swamps, hammocks, riverbanks, and other wet habitats.