''Helichrysum luteoalbum'', the Jersey cudweed, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

Description

It is an erect

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

biennial Biennial means (an event) lasting for two years or occurring every two years. The related term biennium is used in reference to a period of two years. In particular, it can refer to: * Biennial plant, a plant which blooms in its second year and th ...

up to tall, branching from the base. Leaves are

oblanceolate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

to lanceolate and covered in hairs like that of the

edelweiss EDELWEISS (Expérience pour DEtecter Les WIMPs En Site Souterrain) is a dark matter search experiment located at the Modane Underground Laboratory in France. The experiment uses cryogenic detectors, measuring both the phonon and ionization signals ...

. The leaves can survive frozen over in winter. Flowers are cream, yellow, white, or pink. Seeds have a pappus which lets them float over long distances.

Taxonomy

This species was first published by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

in his 1753 ''

Species plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial names and was the ...

'', under the name ''Gnaphalium luteo-album'' (the orthography was later changed to omit the hyphen). In 1829,

Ludwig Reichenbach Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach (8 January 1793 – 17 March 1879) was a German botanist and ornithologist. It was he who first requested Leopold Blaschka to make a set of glass marine invertebrate models for scientific education and museu ...

transferred it to ''

Helichrysum The genus ''Helichrysum'' consists of an estimated 600 species of flowering plants in the sunflower family (Asteraceae). The type species is ''Helichrysum orientale''. They often go by the names everlasting, immortelle, and strawflower. The name ...

'', but this name was not taken up, and the species was retained in ''

Gnaphalium ''Gnaphalium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, commonly called cudweeds. They are widespread and common in temperate regions, although some are found on tropical mountains or in the subtropical regions of the world. Cudw ...

'' until 1981, when

Olive Mary Hilliard Olive Mary Hilliard ( Hillary, 4 July 1925 – 30 November 2022) was a South African botanist and taxonomist. Hilliard authored 372 land plant species names, the fifth-highest number of such names authored by any female scientist. Hilliard was bo ...

and

Brian Laurence Burtt Brian Laurence "Bill" Burtt FRSE FLS (27 August 1913 – 30 May 2008), was an English botanist and taxonomist who is noted for his contributions to the family Gesneriaceae. In a career that spanned 74 years, he worked first at the Royal Botanic ...

transferred it into ''

Pseudognaphalium ''Pseudognaphalium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the sunflower family. Members of the genus are commonly known as cudweeds or rabbit tobacco ('' P. obtusifolium'' is the original species with that name). They are widespread in temperate ...

''. In 2004, an investigation into the phylogenetic relationships of ''Helichrysum'' and related genera found this species to have arisen within ''Helichrysum''. As a result of this, Reichenbach's long-forgotten name for this species was resurrected. A later study showed that all the sampled ''

'' species arose within ''

'' as did ''

Anaphalis ''Anaphalis'' is a genus of herbaceous and woody flowering plants within the family Asteraceae, whose members are commonly known by the name pearl or pearly everlasting. There are around 110 species with the vast majority being native to central ...

'', ''

Achyrocline ''Achyrocline'' is a genus of flowering plants in the Asteraceae described as a genus in 1838. It is native to Latin America and Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. A ...

'' and ''

Humeocline ''Humeocline'' is a genus of plants in the family Asteraceae, endemic to Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), ...

''.

Distribution and habitat

This species is so widely distributed that it is unclear where it is native and where naturalised. In general it is considered naturalised in

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, and native to every other continent except Antarctica. It grows in meadows, wastelands, and edges of forests. Its rosettes are occasionally mistaken for edelweiss.

Uses

In Vietnam, the plant is used as a food ingredient, such as in the rice cake ''banh khuc''. It has also been used in traditional medicine of the region, as a diuretic, hemostatic, antipyretic, for the treatment of cough, and for pain relief.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3109451 luteoalbum Flora of the Antipodes Islands

Description

Taxonomy

Distribution and habitat

Uses

See also

References