Floral | biologyfieldclass

Butter-And-Eggs

Ironweed

Big Blue Stem

Floral of the Badlands

Curly Gumweed

Rubber Rabbitbrush

Ericameria nauseosa

Soapweed Yucca

Yucca glauca

Purple Coneflower

Prickly Pear

Opuntia fragilis

Echinacea purpurea

Grindelia squarrosa

Structure: Erect, 1-3 feet tall with several terminating branches.

Life Cycle: Biennial or short-lived perennial.

Leaves: Alternate and rounded with a saw-toothed margin. 1-3 inches in length, sticky and glandular.

Flowers: Bright yellow, 1 inch in diameter. Supported by cups with small, sticky curved bracts.

Roots: Fibrous, horizontal branching taproot.

Andropogon gerardi

Vernonia gigantea

Linaria vulgaris

Description

This ironweed is 1 to 3 meters tall. The stem is rigid mostly smooth, sometimes with a few silky white hairs near the leaf bases. Leaves are alternate, 10 to 30 centimeters long, and 2 to 4 centimeters wide. The leaves are smooth on top,

usually dark green, and smooth too white pubescent beneath. Heads are generally in clusters of 10 to 20 at the end of branches and multiple branches may loosely overlap to produce flowering masses 10 to 18 centimeters across. Each head generally has 15 to 25 individual disk flowers in it. The flowers are purple, rarely white, in this species.

Habitat

Prairies and other grasslands, old fields, roadsides, savannas and woodlands growing on dry to moist soils. It is especially common in overgrazed pasture. It is found from Iowa and Kansas south to Texas and east to New York south to Florida with the exception New Jersey. It is also known from Michigan and Ontario. It is most common in the Ohio and lower Mississippi valleys.

Budding Season

This species flowers in July to September. It is an excellent nectar plant and is visited by many species of butterflies and bees. It is a strong competitor in the garden and can soon become weedy when cultivated.

Big bluestem is a warm-season grass native to the eastern two thirds of the United States. It is found from the mid-western short grass prairies to the coastal plain, where it naturally serves as fuel for periodic fire. This species is large and robust as bluestems go, with mature plants commonly reaching 6 to 8 feet in height. The rhizomes are short and scaly and the color of the leaves varies from light yellow-green to burgundy.

The seed head is coarse and not fluffy as in other bluestems. Individual seed heads often have three spikelet that look like a turkey foot.

Big bluestem it provides excellent stability for sandy areas. This species is also a good native choice for grazing forage and is very palatable to livestock. As with the other bluestems, big blue also provides excellent wildlife habitat.

Rubber rabbitbrush is highly variable, with several different subspecies located throughout the western United States. It is typically distinguished by having whitish to green flexible stems, felt-like matted hairs, and narrow, thread-like grayish-green alternate leaves. Shrubs are rounded and generally two to five feet tall, but can reach as high as seven feet. Flower heads are made up of 5 small, yellow, tubular flowers, and are arranged in dense, rounded or flat-topped clusters at the ends of the branches. Flowers bloom from August to October as other plants are fading, providing vivid color and a pollen source for insects late in the summer. The shrubs reproduce with abundance of small, wind-dispersed seeds and can also sprout from the base.

It grows in dry rocky soils throughout the Great Plains and is most abundant in short grass prairies and desert grasslands. These plants have a long history of beneficial use. As the name implies, the crushed roots of soapweed yucca produce a lather that makes a good soap or shampoo. The lathering substances called saponins are found in many plants, but are exceptionally concentrated in yucca roots.

Roots labeled “yucca root” are often sold in grocery stores. These roots are actually cassava or manioc (Manihot esculanta). This woody shrub has a starchy tuberous root that is a staple food in the tropical regions where it grows. The roots of true yuccas are generally too fibrous and too full of toxic saponins to be used as food.

8" spiny clumps. Stems form flattish joints; upper ones break off easily. Spines 1", yellowish, in star-like clusters with white wool at base. Flowers 1 1/2", usually yellow with many petals and red-stalked stamens.

Bloom May-June. Fruit 1/2", tan egg-shaped.