Pineapple Weed

Asteraceae

LIFE FORM: Annual

NATIVITY: Western North America

VEGETATIVE CHARACTERISTICS:

Grows anywhere from 2 inches to a foot tall; finely divided pinnate leaves have a sweet odor like pineapple when crushed.

FLOWERS:

Greenish yellow flower heads are produced at the ends of the branches from May through September; composite infloresences lack ray flowers.

FRUIT/DISPERSAL AGENTS:

Self-sows readily.

ECOLOGICAL PREFERENCE:

Trampled lawns in public parks; neglected residential and commercial landscapes; minimally maintained public parks and open space; vacant lots and rubble dump sites; abandoned grasslands (meadows).

ENVIRONMENTAL FUNCTION:

Disturbance-adapted colonizer.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:

Used in traditional medicine. The nativity of this plant is uncertain, originating in either western North American or eastern Asia.