Hairy pinweed Hairy pinweed

Lechea minor Linnaeus var. villosa (Elliott) B. Boivin; L. villosa Elliott; L. villosa var. macrotheca Hodgdon; L. villosa var. schaffneri Hodgdon

Herbs, biennial or perennial. Stems: basal produced; flowering erect, (15–)30–90 cm, densely spreading-villous. Leaves of flowering stems opposite or whorled; blade elliptic to ovate, 10–30 × 3–4 mm, apex acute to obtuse, <mucronate>, abaxial surface villous, adaxial glabrous. Pedicels 1 per axil, 0.8–1.5 mm. Flowers: calyx 1.4–2 mm, outer sepals shorter than inner. Capsules subglobose, 1.4–1.7 × 1.3–1.6 mm, ± equaling calyx. Seeds 2–5.

Flowering late spring–summer; fruiting summer–fall. Dry, sandy or rocky open sites, sandy prairies, and margins of oak-hickory and pine-oak woodlands; 10–1300 m; Ont.; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Md., Mass., Mich., Miss., Mo., Nebr., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis.

A recent collection of Lechea mucronata from sandhills on the southern high plains of eastern New Mexico represents a significant range extension.