Pensacola Marsh Elder

Iva asperifolia Less. Linnaea 5: 151. 1830
A slender annual or perhaps perennial; stem branched, decumbent at the base, often rooting, terete, 2-4 dm. high, sparingly hispidulous-strigose; lower leaves opposite, 1-2 cm. long, 2-4 mm. broad, oblong or linear-oblanceolate, short-petioled, entire, hispidulous-strigose and glandular-punctate, obtuse; those of the inflorescence smaller and linear; heads numerous in leafy spikes; involucre turbinate, 2-3 mm. wide; bracts 3, more or less united into a cup, his-
pidulous-strigose without, with scarious villous-ciliate margins; chaffs filiform; staminate
flowers 3-5; corollas elongate, funnelform; anthers with acuminate tips; style half as long as
the stamens; stigma minute; pistillate flowers usually solitary; corolla-tube as long as the ovary;
achenes obovate, glandular-muriculate and somewhat pilose at the apex.
Type locality: Near Veracruz.
Distribution: Sand dunes, states of Veracruz and Tamaulipas; reported from Pensacola, Florida.

Iva asperifolia, the Pensacola marsh elder, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It grows in the south-central United States (Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana, with naturalized populations in Florida, Missouri, and Indiana). It has also been found in the state of Veracruz in eastern Mexico.

Iva asperifolia is a wind-pollinated herb up to 30 cm (1 foot) tall. It has lance-linear leaves, and many small nodding (hanging) flower heads in elongated arrays, each head with a few small flowers.