FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Despite the common name of sweetscent, plants have an unpleasant fragrance; look for (very) short petioles and pinkish flowers.
Description: Unbranching, leafy perennial, to 1.5 m tall, topped with dense clusters of light pink disk flowers.
Leaves: Alternate, elliptic, thick leaves with short petioles or tapered at base (not clasping). Inflorescence stem and branches pubescent.
Flowers/Fruit: Flat-topped clusters of medium to dark pink disk flowers. Seeds attached to long bristles for dispersal. Flowers and fruits August to October.
Habit and Range: Estuarine habitats in the outer Coastal Plain: freshwater tidal, brackish, and salt marshes.
Taxonomic Note: In North Carolina, this species is restricted to coastal counties. In the far south and southwest US, this species is found well inland, despite its other common name, saltmarsh fleabane.
COMMON CONFUSIONS:
Pluchea odorata (sweetscent) is similar to Pluchea foetida (stinking camphorweed), which has whitish flowers, sessile and sometimes clasping leaves, and grows only in freshwater wetlands. The less common Pluchea camphorata (camphor pluchea) is found in wetlands statewide. It has light pink flowers and large leaves with petioles (not clasping).
Click here to view Pluchea foetida.
Link to side-by-side comparisons page
