Fleischmannia bridgesii (B.L. Rob.) R.M. King & H. Rob., Phytologia 19: 203. 1970

Robinson, Harold, 2015, The genus Fleischmannia in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay (Eupatorieae, Asteraceae), PhytoKeys 57, pp. 61-92 : 72-73

Fleischmannia bridgesii (B.L. Rob.) R.M. King & H. Rob., Phytologia 19: 203. 1970

Eupatorium bridgesii B.L. Rob., Proc. Amer. Acad. 55: 7. 1919. Type: Bolivia, without specific locality, Bridges s.n. (holotype K, photo GH).

Description.

Perennial herbs to 60 cm high; stems brownish to reddish-tinged, terete, densely pilosulous, without known branches but often with axillary fascicles. Leaves opposite, petioles, short, 4-7 mm long, a 5th as long as blade; leaf blade narrowly ovate, with pale main veins, Inflorescence rather dense, flattened corymbiform; branches strongly ascending, puberulous; peduncles 3-7 mm long, puberulous. Heads ca. 6 mm high and 4 mm wide; involucral bracts ca. 22, gradate, 1.5-5.0 mm long, described as lanceolate, attenuate, most specimens seen with bracts more oblong and less pointed, often reddish distally. Florets ca. 25 in a head; corollas pink, 3-4 mm long, basal tube ca. 0.5 mm, throat 2-3 mm, lobes ca. 0.5 mm long, without evident hairs; anther thecae ca. 1 mm long, apical appendage ca. 0.25 mm long; style branches not broadened distally. Achenes ca. 2 mm long, with paler ribs, pappus setae white, ca. 27, 2.5-3.0 mm long, slender, scarcely contiguous.

Specimens seen that bear the name, have thin pale-green leaves with slightly paler abaxial surfaces and white main veins. The petioles in all four specimens are comparatively short, 1/5 the length of the blade or less. They are unbranched with flat-topped corymbiform inflorescences with strongly ascending inflorescence branches, and have at least the outer involucral bracts lanceolate. These specimens do not show the squarrose-spreading tips of the outer involucral bracts cited by Robinson (1920), but this characteristic is probably only a feature of an individual specimen. Such recurved tips have been seen in occasional specimens of other species as a result of something done during preparation.

Four different specimens seem to share these general characteristics. The one that seems to fit the concept best is from Bolivia: Cochabamba, 2-3 ft., 7, March 1920, E.W.D. & Mary M. Holway 373 (US ex hb. Gray). Three additional specimens that have been determined as Fleischmannia bridgesii , but differ from that species in some details, are Bolivia: Cochabamba, 2600 m, 1932, Bro Julio II 263 (US); Bolivia: Dpto Chuquisaca, Prov, Azurduy, Azurduy-Icla, arbusto, flor lila, May 1981, E.E.B. (ERTS) 313a (LPB, US); Chuquisaca, Sucre, alt. 2700 m, herb, ca. 50 cm high, fls. pink, April 1933, M. Cardenas 494 (US ex hb. Gray as Eupatorium prasiifolium . The latter three specimens have most involucral bracts with more obtuse and more extensive reddish puberulence on stems, branches of the inflorescence and involucral bracts. All four specimens seem to be snatchings from tops of plants, and the total habit and any vegetative branching is unknown.