Not to be semantically confused with : Cape Pigweed (Amaranthus capensis), Cape Pondweed (Aponogeton distachyos), Cape Tulip (Homeria collina), Cape Marguerite (Osteospermum ecklonis), Cape Wattle (Paraserianthes lophantha), Cape Figwort (Phygelius capensis), Cape Gooseberry (Physalis peruviana) nor with Caper Spurge (Euphorbia lathyris) [plants with similar names but in differing genera and families]
It occurs naturalised on cliffs or rough ground in all the Channel Islands, but intermittent and rare elsewhere in the UK.
There are now many differing genera of plants with the common name of 'Cudweed' as taxonomists have discovered several differences in them that were not readily apparent maybe 10 or 20 years ago. There are now 8 differing genera into which the 'Cudweeds' now find themselves segregated into: Filago, (formerly called 'Gifolia' and 'Oglifa'), Logfia (also formerly called 'Gifolia' and 'Oglifa') [has everone noticed that those are all anagrams], Omalotheca, Gnaphalium, Gamochaeta, Pseudognaphalium (formerly also called Gnaphalium) and Laphangium.
Cape Cudweed (Pseudognaphalium undulatum) and Jersey Cudweed (Laphangium luteoalbum) used to be together in the same Gnaphalium genus but they have both been found to be not of that genus, but have now been moved into two separate genera that did not then exist as a name, but do now to accommodate the two. Such is often the result of recent microscopic examination of plant genes.
Visually, there is very little difference between the two. Here are the subtle differences:
|
CAPE CUDWEED |
JERSEY CUDWEED |
Height |
80cm |
50cm |
Leaf top |
green |
white woolly |
Leaf underside |
white woolly |
white woolly |
Leaf attachment |
decurrent down stem |
not decurrent down stem |
Phyllaries |
whitish ± scarious |
straw-coloured scarious |
|