Common name: Telegraph Weed
Heterotheca grandiflora Nutt. APNI* 
Description: Heavily scented annual herb, 0.5–2.0 m high, with 1-several stout, glandular and septate-hairy stems arising from a long taproot.
Leaves thick, ovate to oblong or oblanceolate, 2–6 cm long, 8–25 mm wide, apex obtuse to acute, margins irregularly toothed, surfaces densely hairy; lower petiolate, often with a pair of stipule-like lobes at the base, the upper sessile.
Heads numerous, 15–22 mm diam.; involucral bracts narrow-oblong, glandular-hairy. Ray florets 25–35; yellow, ligule 5–8 mm long. Disc florets 50–60, style branches scarcely exserted.
Achenes 2–5 mm long, hairy; pappus 4–7 mm long, brick-red to rust-coloured, the outer series inconspicuous.
Flowering: late summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Grows in pasture, along roadsides and in wasteland in the Raymond Terrace-Newcastle area. Native of Central America.
NSW subdivisions: *NC, *CC, *CWS
Text by M. F. Porteners
Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 3 (1992)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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