Species Native to Missouri
Common Name: false boneset
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Asteraceae
Native Range: Mexico, United States
Zone: 6 to 9
Height: 1.00 to 4.00 feet
Spread: 0.75 to 2.00 feet
Bloom Time: July to October
Bloom Description: Creamy white to pale yellow
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Dry to medium
Maintenance: Low
Flower: Showy
Leaf: Colorful
Tolerate: Drought, Dry Soil
Culture
Easily grown in dry to medium moisture well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Prefers full sun and dryish soil conditions. Tolerates drought and somewhat poor soils.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Brickellia eupatorioides, commonly known as false boneset, is an herbaceous perennial in the aster family that is native to dry open woods, thickets, clearings, rocky slopes, limestone glades and prairies from New Jersey to Missouri south to Texas and Florida. It typically grows to 1-4’ tall on stems clad with narrow to lance-shaped, finely pubescent, gray to yellowish-green leaves (1 to 4” long), with each leaf featuring a single prominent center vein, margins that have occasional coarse teeth or are untoothed, and resinous glands underneath.
Upper stems terminate in loose terminal clusters (small corymbs) of stalked and rayless (no petals) flowerheads. Each flowerhead consists of 7-21 small, narrowly tubular, creamy white to pale yellow disk florets, with a thread-like style protruding from the center of the flowerhead. An involucre of imbricated, narrow, overlapping bracts surrounds the base of each flowerhead. Flowers bloom summer to early fall (July to October). Flowers are followed by gray to light brown achenes which have tufts of white hair that are often more ornamentally attractive than the flowers. Seeds are distributed to other locations by wind.
Kuhnia eupatorioides is a synonym.
Genus name honors Irish physician Dr. John Brickell (c. 1749-1809) who settled in Georgia, USA.
Specific epithet means like the genus Eupatorium.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems.
Uses
Borders. Native plant gardens.