Yerba De Plata

Rolandra fruticosa (L.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 360. 1891
Echinops fruticosa L. Sp. PI. 815. 1753.
Rolandra argentea Rottb. Coll. Soc. Med. Havn. 2: 258. 1775. Rolandra diacantha Cass. Diet. Sci. Nat. 46: 171. 1827. Rolandra monacantha Cass. Diet. Sci. Nat. 46: 171. 1827.
Stems erect, sparingly branched, 2-10 dm. high, finely puberulent; leaf-blades firm, oblong
to elliptic, 3-14 cm. long, 1-5 cm. wide, acute or short-acuminate, entire or undulate, narrowed
at base into a short pubescent petiole, scabrellate or glabrate above, closely gray-tomentose
and pilose on the veins beneath; veins prominent, ascending; glomerules numerous, terminal
and in the upper axils, dense, hemispheric to subglobose, 10-15 mm. in diameter, the shortened
axes densely hirsute among the oblong, scarious, subulate bracts; involucre 4-5 mm. high,
the scales ovate to ovate-lanceolate, thinly pubescent to glabrous, usually glandular on the
back, tipped with a short, straight or bent spine, the outer slightly exceeding the inner, ciliate
near the tip; achenes glabrous and glandular, 2 mm. long; pappus 0.5-1 mm. long, of numerous
unequal fimbriate segments.
Type locality: Tropical America.
Distribution: Porto Rico and Honduras, and south to Brazil.