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Smallanthus uvedalia
Hairy Leafcup
Bearsfoot
Yellow Flowered Leafcup
Synonym(s): Smallanthus uvedalius, Polymnia uvedalia, Osteospermum uvedalia
Florida native
A frequent wildflower of moist hammocks in much of Florida from Pinellas, Polk, Osceola and Brevard Counties northward, but absent from the Big Bend and some of the northeastern counties. The range extends throughout woods and meadows of the southeastern and Ohio Valley states, west into Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, and north into Missouri, Illinois, Michigan and New York.
A perennial herb that grows from 1-3 m (3-10 ft.) tall with large opposite leaves from 10-30cm (4 -12 in.) long. Leaves have winged petioles and are palmately viened and lobed with 3 or 5 lobes. The showy flowers can be terminal or axillary, and have from 8-15 yellow ray flowers with toothed apices. The ray florets are fertile with bifurcate styles, while the yellow disk flowers are sterile and have undivided styles. Fruits are blackish swollen and grooved achenes up to 6mm (1/4 in.) long.
The species is named for English teacher and botanist Robert Uvedale (1642-1722). Uvedale exchanged plants with others, growing species from many collectors of the time in his garden and one of the early hothouses in England. Upon his death most of his plants were sold to Sir Robert Walpole for his collection at Houghton Hall and incorporated into Walpole's fourteen volume herbarium. Hairy leafcup was originally named Osteospermum uvedalia by Linnaeus in 1753 using a plant from Uvedale's garden. The species uvedalia was later moved into the genus Smallanthus, making Hairy Leafcup the only North American species of this genus. Smallanthus is named for John Kunkel Small (1869-1938) a botanist at the Herbarium of Columbia College and the Museum of the Botanical Garden of New York and author of the Flora of the Southeastern United States.
Smallanthus uvedalia is a member of the Asteraceae - Aster family.
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (Institute for Systemic Botany) profile for this species
USDA Plant Profile for this species
Date record last modified: Mar 22, 2020
