Bill's Botanical Forays

It’s been a while since I blogged here. This time we will look at an obscure plant called Camphor Pluchea or Marsh Fleabane. Its scientific name is Pluchea camphorata. This member of Asteraceae is listed by the Maryland State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) as a endangered species (S1 E).

This species grows in clumps in a narrow stretch of the Patuxent River on the refuge. This fall, I spotted a clump of it growing next to a stream by a road which visitors drive by.

 

 

It has a very odd almost putrid smell if you crush the leaves.