Rabbit Tobacco/Sweet Everlasting
Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium
On shaded limestone cliff-faces in Wisconsin—especially those facing south or east—Rabbit Tobacco quietly anchors itself in ledges and crevices, where its cliff-dwelling forms, sometimes classified as Pseudognaphalium saxicola, manage to survive. These populations stabilize fragile substrates and offer nectar to late-season pollinators, making this native wildflower an important contributor to the life of the ledge. Elsewhere, Rabbit Tobacco thrives on roadsides, slopes, and waste places, growing up to three feet tall. It bears branching clusters of white tubular flower heads and narrow, elliptical leaves with a distinctive maple scent when crushed. The silvery-green leaves, up to three inches long and less than an inch wide, form a woolly rosette at the base, while alternate leaves ascend the stem. The upper leaf surface is green with sparse hairs; the underside is densely covered in woolly fuzz.
(SF)