Common Name: Eastern Baccharis
Scientific Name: Baccharis halimifolia
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Wetland Plant Status: Facultative
Ecology & Description Eastern baccharis is usually considered a large shrub or small tree with an active growth period during the spring, summer, and fall. Its leaves can be up to 2 ½ inches long and are egg-shaped. The flower heads of this plant are white and located in stalked clusters. When fertile, the heads have a cotton-like appearance. Eastern baccharis has a minimum temperature tolerance of -3˚F, but has a high salinity and anaerobic tolerance. Baccharis is adapted to all soil textures as well.
Habitat Eastern baccharis is usually found in wetlands. It is extremely salt-tolerant and therefore can be found along most salty or brackish shores of marshes and estuaries. It is also found along ditches, in old fields, and in other disturbed areas. Other habitats in the southeastern United States include freshwater tidal marshes and open woods and thickets along the seacoast.
Distribution Eastern baccharis can be found all throughout the Atlantic and Gulf Coast in the United States.
Native/Invasive Status It is native to the southeastern United States.
Wildlife Uses This plant is often used by small songbirds, such as Marsh Wrens (Cistothorus palustris), as nesting vegetation. While it can used as a source of food (albeit a minor food source) to large mammals and terrestrial birds, ingestion of more than 2% of an animal’s body weight can be toxic.
Management & Control Techniques This plant’s tolerance to salt and rapid movement onto disturbed sites could make it useful in rehabilitation of disturbed sites in some cases, but, more often than not, it is considered a weed. To subdue this as a weed mowing and broadleaf herbicide spread in 1-3 year intervals may provide control but would not be cost-effective. Though, in Australia where the plant is an invasive, Phytophagous Brazilian insects have been successfully used to control the introduced baccharis species and similar techniques look to be effective here in the U.S.
References "Baccharis Halimifolia." Baccharis Halimifolia. USDA, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.
This document was authored by Logan McMillian, School of Forestry, Louisiana Tech University, March 2015.