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How to Manage Pests

Identification: Weed Photo Gallery

| Weed Photo Gallery | Key to weeds in turf |

Cudweeds

Scientific name: Gnaphalium spp. (= Euchiton spp.) (Sunflower Family: Asteraceae)

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Life stages of Cudweeds mature everlasting cudweed seedling flower head purple cudweed flowering stem seeds

Most cudweed species are annuals. Purple cudweed, Gnaphalium purpureum, is either a winter or summer annual, or biennial, as some plants will survive into the second year to mature, thereby behaving as a biennial. Creeping cudweed, G. collinum, is a perennial. Everlasting cudweed, Gnaphalium luteo-album, is a landscape and nursery weed. Cotton batting, Gnaphalium stramineum, can be a problem in turf.

Seedling

Cotyledons (seed leaves) and first true leaves are covered with whitish to light gray woolly hairs. The first true leaves have smooth edges and taper gradually toward the base.

Mature plant

Sparsely branched, mostly erect, and are 8 to 20 inches (20–50 cm) tall.

Flower

The flower heads are crowded, spikelike, and densely arranged on the stem or at the base of leaf stalks.

Fruit

The fruit bears bristly, tuftlike projections that are shed at maturity.

Reproduction

Reproduce by seed.

Related species/Similar looking plants

Purple cudweed
Creeping cudweed
Cotton-batting plant
Common cudweed

More information

Statewide IPM Program, Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California
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