General:
Annual herb from a fibrous root; stems branched, appressed-hairy with some long, spreading hairs and sometimes some glandular hairs, 15-60 cm tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves lacking; stem leaves opposite, simple, stalked, narrowly egg-shaped, toothed, rarely entire, mostly glabrous, 3-5.5 cm long, 0.5-2.5 cm wide.
Flowers:
Heads with ray and disk flowers, numerous in leafy-bracted clusters, the bases sparsely hairy; involucres 2-3 mm tall; involucral bracts egg-shaped; receptacles conic, covered with narrow, membranous scales; ray flowers white, about 1 mm long; disk flowers yellow, shorter than the pappus scales.
Fruits:
Achenes black, those of the ray flowers compressed, sparsely short-hairy; pappus of the ray flowers minute or lacking, those of the disk flowers slightly angled, sparsely short-hairy, of 9-18 rounded or blunt, white scales with finely-or densely-fringed margins.
TAXONOMIC KEY TO GALINSOGA
1. Pappus scales of disk flowers tapering to a long point; pappus of ray flowers present G. quadriradiata 1. Pappus scales of disk flowers rounded or blunt; pappus of ray flowers minute or lacking G. parviflora |