Baccharis halimifolia Bush Groundsel PFAF Plant Database

2 New Books ** Edible Plants: An inspirational guide to choosing and growing unusual edible plants and Woodland Gardening (Forest) [Paperback]. more >>


Search Page Content

Baccharis halimifolia - L.

Common Name

Bush Groundsel

Family

Asteraceae or Compositae

Synonyms

Known Hazards

The plant is potentially toxic to livestock[274].

Habitats

Open woods, thickets and borders of marshes near the coast[43], often in saline soils[235].

Range

Eastern N. America - Massachusetts to Florida and Texas.

Edibility Rating

Medicinal Rating

Care

Summary

Physical Characteristics

Baccharis halimifolia is a deciduous Shrub growing to 3.5 m (11ft) by 3.5 m (11ft) at a medium rate.
It is hardy to zone 5. It is in flower in October. The flowers are dioecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but only one sex is to be found on any one plant so both male and female plants must be grown if seed is required) and are pollinated by Insects.The plant is not self-fertile.

Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils, prefers well-drained soil and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils and can grow in very alkaline and saline soils.
It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers dry or moist soil. The plant can tolerate maritime exposure.


http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jean-Jacques_MILAN

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Daderot

Habitats
Woodland Garden Sunny Edge; Hedge;

Edible Uses
None known

Medicinal Uses
Plants For A Future can not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Always seek advice from a professional before using a plant medicinally. Demulcent. The plant is used as a palliative and demulcent in consumption and cough[207].

Other Uses

Fuel; Hedge; Hedge; Soil stabilization.

A good fast-growing hedge for exposed maritime conditions[11, K]. It retains its leaves into the new year but is rather bare in late winter[K]. Plants have an extensive root system and can be grown on sand or thin coastal soils in order to bind the soil[200]. Resinous secretions on the leaves and wood make this a useful fuel[11]. It is a fairly small plant though and would not be a very productive source.

Cultivation details

Succeeds in a sunny position in any well-drained soil[11, 188], from heavy clays to pure sands[113]. Tolerates saline conditions and dry soils[188, 200]. A useful shrub for coastal situations, resisting maritime exposure[11]. Plants are hardy to about -15°c[200]. A fast-growing plant, it is very tolerant of pruning and can be cut right back to the base if required[K]. The presence of this plant growing wild was supposed to indicate areas where oil might be found[207]. Dioecious. Male and female plants must be grown if seed is required.

Propagation

Seed - no pre-treatment is required[113]. Surface sow in pots a cold frame in the spring, do not let the compost dry out. Germination usually takes place within 1 - 2 weeks[113]. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the cold frame for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, July/August in a frame. Very easy[K]. Cuttings of mature wood of the current seasons growth, November in a frame. Easy[K].

Plant Suppliers: Click here for a List

You can download this page as a PDF

Expert comment

Author
L.

Botanical References
1143200

Links / References

[K] Ken Fern Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[11]Bean. W. Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement.

A classic with a wealth of information on the plants, but poor on pictures.

[43]Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany.

A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.

[113]Dirr. M. A. and Heuser. M. W. The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation.

A very detailed book on propagating trees. Not for the casual reader.

[188]Brickell. C. The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers

Excellent range of photographs, some cultivation details but very little information on plant uses.

[200]Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992.

Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[207]Coffey. T. The History and Folklore of North American Wild Flowers.

A nice read, lots of information on plant uses.

[235]Britton. N. L. Brown. A. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada

Reprint of a 1913 Flora, but still a very useful book.

Readers comment

QR Code

What's this?

This is a QR code (short for Quick Response) which gives fast-track access to our website pages. QR Codes are barcodes that can be read by mobile phone (smartphone) cameras. This QR Code is unique to this page. All plant pages have their own unique code. For more information about QR Codes click here.

1. Copy and print the QR code to a plant label, poster, book, website, magazines, newspaper etc and even t-shirts.

2. Smartphone users scan the QR Code which automatically takes them to the webpage the QR Code came from.

3. Smartphone users quickly have information on a plant directly for the pfaf.org website on their phone.

Rate This Plant
Please rate this plants for how successful you have found it to be. You will need to be logged in to do this. Our intention is not to create a list of 'popular' plants but rather to highlight plants that may be rare and unusual and that have been found to be useful by website users. This hopefully will encourage more people to use plants that they possibly would not have considered before.

Add a comment/link

If you have important information about this plant that may help other users please add a comment or link below. Only comments or links that are felt to be directly relevant to a plant will be included. If you think a comment/link or information contained on this page is inaccurate or misleading we would welcome your feedback at admin@pfaf.org. If you have questions about a plant please use the Forum on this website as we do not have the resources to answer questions ourselves.

* Please note: the comments by website users are not necessarily those held by PFAF and may give misleading or inaccurate information.

Subject : Baccharis halimifolia

Links	To add a link to another website with useful info add the details here
Name of Site
URL of Site
Details