Eupatorium Elegant Feathers
Eupatorium capillifolium, commonly called dog fennel or sneeze weed.
Each plant produces several tall, stiff, woody-based, often reddish, upright stems clad with crowded, feathery, finely-dissected leaves which are pinnately divided into thread-like segments. Leaves are unpleasantly aromatic when crushed. Minute, greenish-white, somewhat ornamentally insignificant flowers bloom in late summer. The small, 3-5 flowered heads are numerous and arranged in large, leafy, pyramid-shaped end clusters (corymbs). Flowers bloom between September and November. Fruits are smooth achenes.
Genus name comes from the Greek name for these herbaceous and shrubby plants in honor of Mithridates VI Eupator, 132-63 B.C., King of Pontus, who reportedly discovered the medicinal uses for some Eupatorium species plants.