Baccharis Species, Consumption Weed, Eastern Baccharis, Groundsel-Bush, Sea Myrtle

This is a very common shrub in central and southern Delaware growing wild in fields, bogs, swamps, marshes, dunes, and shores. It is fast...Read More growing and soft-wooded. Its white fuzzy flower clusters attract a lot of pollinating insects in August and September. It then has white heads of seed in October through November. The gray-green foliage is semi-evergreen. The conventional nursery business does not sell it, but some native nurseries do. I've seen a good number growing around the ponds at many condominium and housing developments in Delaware, adding a good aspect. This plant reminds me of the Rose-of-Sharon (Shrub Althea) in form and foliage. Its native range is east Texas, southern Arkansas, over to all Florida, up the East Coast to Massachusetts.

During the 1950s, groundsel trees in Alabama were largely confined to the coastal region. They are now found as far inland as Lee County...Read More in central eastern Alabama. They are particularly common near Interstate Hwy. I-85. A horticultural expert told me that butterflies, bees, and other nectar-feeding insects find the flowers especially attractive. " The sheer numbers of insects feeding on the flowers well into November is amazing. You'd have to see it to believe it," he told me. I have read that monarch butterflies find the flowers particularly attractive. Few other native plants are blooming well into November. All things considered, I believe groundsel trees are valuable contributors to our area's flora.

Eastern Baccharis, Groundsel, Sea Myrtle, Consumption Weed, Groundsel-bush, Seepwillow Baccharis halimifolia is native to Texas and other States.

This plant grows weed-like on the Eastern Shore of Maryland & Virginia. You can find this plant on Assateague Island Virginia along the ...Read Moreside of the road & off the trails. It's actually quite beautiful in it's own right. I've heard it called Silverling & Groundsel. Takes care of itself. I've had one growing in my yard for years. Deer don't mess with it. Sometimes they appear as a bush, others as a tree. The female has white snowy flowers & the male is yellowish