This is a shrub in the Asteraceae about 4-5' tall. The leaves are oak-like in shape and somewhat rough-textured like fine sandpaper and the petioles are winged down the stem. Does anyone recognize it?
A couple of us have given this a try here, and so far come up with nothing. Would you be able to share where the photo was taken and whether it is likely to be a native or garden escapee?
This is a shrub in the LA Botanical Garden. I have had only limited success in trying to get things identified which are not signed. I have been taking pictures in there for my website What's Blooming at the LA Arboretum which is at www.calflora.net/losangelesarboretum . This plant was in a section devoted primarily to the Southwestern US and Mexico, so that's a clue where it is from. I will try again to solicit the help of the plant information office and post any answer I get.
All plants in such collections are supposed to be "accessions" which are labeled and recorded. Of course, over the years some may be lost track of. Nevertheless, during office hours you should be able to inquire about any particular plant and find out what it is. That it was not signed or labeled is already a bit of a failure, unless, as mentioned it is actually growing as a weed in the gardens there or otherwise was not acquired and planted by the BG as an accession. Lack of comprehensive signage and labeling is a widespread problem with such facilities, it seems pictures of unidentified plants in botanic gardens and arboreta are rather often put up and asked about on the internet. But there should never be a reason for staff not to come up with a name in response to an inquiry.
In an ideal word, yes, but all too often, botanic gardens just don't have the funding to employ sufficient staff to respond to queries
If a public collection is not being interpreted then the primary mission is not being addressed. The plants aren't there for the staff only.
The Los Angeles County Arboretum has survived periods of very poor funding. Under such circumstances, it's not unheard-of for documentation to be lost.
The closest genus I've been able to find so far is Smallanthus: Smallanthus uvedalia Smallanthus maculatus Information about this genus online is pretty hard to come by.
If indeed it is Zaluzania augusta or another species in that genus like triloba, it seems that it's another one that is poorly documented on the web. I can find no real botanical descriptions of these species either online or in any of the print sources I have. Perhaps David could provide some photos showing the leaves and flowers. I will again check the Arboretum accession records to see if anything in that genus is listed. But that fits with its location within the southwest section.
I'm afraid this is still a bit of a mystery. The Zaluzania id is out because the leaves are not alternate. The Smallanthus id seemed good for a while because it fits with a bunch of things, some species are mexican thus would fit with the southwest section of the Arboretum, rough-textured opposite leaves, winged petioles, ray flowers apparently fertile with styles and stigmas, but S. uvedelia is described as having hollow stems and being weedlike. This was a fairly dense shubby species about 4' tall and the same across with woody (non-hollow) stems. So Smallanthus seems to be as close as we've gotten so far. I guess I'll have to bug them about it at the Arboretum again.
Okay, Daniel, I've got a tentative identification on this. According to my contact at the Arboretum who had a lot of trouble with it, it is a species from Mexico called Verbesina felgeri. If you have access to Phytologia, BL Turner published in 1985, Vol 57, 127-129, "Verbesina felgeri, a new species from Sonora, Mexico" and I'm going to try to get hold of a copy of this to see how it is described. Another Asteraceae from Mexico that has little info on the internet.
*nod* Yes, there wouldn't be much on the web to help suss this out. Found this photograph: Verbesina felgeri, which seems to confirm it - but there certainly isn't much in the way of description. It doesn't look like old articles from Phytologia are online.
