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Marsh Cudweed

Marsh Cudweed

Gnaphalium uliginosum

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How common: Common

Alien species

Marsh Cudweed is a small, one‑year plant in the daisy family coated in silvery hairs. It thrives on open, damp, muddy ground such as paths, field edges and puddled places. Its tiny yellowish flowers sit in small round heads ringed with shiny brown, papery scales.

Did you know?

  • The whole plant often looks grey-white because it is densely covered with silky hairs.
  • The tiny seeds have a soft hair tuft that helps the wind carry them across bare mud.

About the species

Identification

A low, one‑year herb, 2–25 cm tall, often forming patches. Stems are thin, much branched, lying or rising, and densely white‑hairy. Leaves are narrow, smooth‑edged, and grey‑green to whitish on both sides, feeling soft and silky. Flower heads are in tight round clusters at the tips and in upper leaf forks; each small head is surrounded by shiny brown, papery scales and lacks showy petals, so the heads look brownish with pale centers. Seeds are tiny and brown with a white hair tuft. Among cudweeds, this one favors muddy wet places. In Finland it flowers from mid-summer to early autumn, July to September.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

shore

Flowering

Jul–Sep

About the habitat

Open, damp, disturbed ground: farm fields, yards, paths and small roads, shores, ditches, and the edges of puddles and pools. Across Finland; less common in Lapland, and only occasional in the far northwest.

Sources

Photo: Bernd Haynold, CC BY 2.5 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gnaphalium uliginosum 200807b.jpg

Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki leviäimet, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39757

Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki versot, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39757

Text: Pinkka: Laaja maatalouslajintuntemus 4 op - Koppisiemeniset, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39757

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savij%C3%A4kk%C3%A4r%C3%A4

See also