1. Hasteola suaveolens (L.) Pojark. (false Indian plantain)
Cacalia
suaveolens L.
Synosma
suaveolens (L.) Britton
Pl. 296 f, g;
Map 1250
Plants
perennial, the rootstock with somewhat fleshy roots and slender, fleshy
rhizomes. Stems 0.4–1.8 m long, erect or strongly ascending, usually unbranched
below the inflorescence, usually finely lined or grooved, glabrous or nearly
so. Leaves in a basal rosette and alternate, progressively reduced in size from
the stem base to the tip, glabrous or nearly so. Basal and lowermost stem
leaves long-petiolate, the blades simple, 15–35 cm long, sharply triangular to
hastate, tapered to a sharply pointed tip, with a pair of spreading, triangular
basal lobes, the base otherwise truncate to nearly cordate, tapering abruptly
to the petiole, the margins sharply toothed, the venation palmate with 1 main
vein and a pair of spreading main veins running into the lobes. Upper leaves
with progressively shorter petioles and shorter lobes, the uppermost leaves
usually narrowly lanceolate and unlobed. Inflorescences panicles (occasionally
reduced to small, loose clusters), terminal and axillary from the uppermost
leaves, broadly rounded to flat-topped in profile. Heads discoid, short- to
long-stalked, mostly with 20–45 florets. Involucre 10–14 mm long, narrowly
bell-shaped (cylindrical to narrowly ovoid in bud), the bracts in 2 series,
sometimes sparsely and minutely hairy near the base and/or tip, the inner
series of 10–15 bracts, these relatively flat dorsally and uniformly green; the
outer series of 5–11 bracts, these 1/2 or more as long as the inner series,
spreading, uniformly green. Corollas 8–12 mm long, white, cream-colored, or
rarely somewhat pinkish-tinged. Style branches with a stigmatic line along each
inner margin. Fruits 5–8 mm long, more or less linear in outline, not
flattened, 8–12-ribbed, glabrous, light brown to pale green. 2n=40. July–September.
Uncommon in
east-central Missouri and also in Butler County (Maine to Georgia west to
Wisconsin and Missouri). Bottomland forests, bases of sheltered bluffs, margins
of sloughs, and banks of streams and rivers.
This species,
with its unusual leaves, is an attractive ornamental, forming colonies of stems
in the garden when sufficient moisture is present. However, as noted by
Steyermark (1963), it spreads both by rhizomes and seeds and can become an
aggressive problem plant.