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Published In: Botanicheskie Materialy Gerbariia Botanicheskogo Instituta imeni V. L. Komarova Akademii Nauk SSSR 20: 381. 1960. (Bot. Mater. Gerb. Bot. Inst. Komarova Akad. Nauk SSSR) Name publication detail
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 8/11/2017)
Acceptance : Accepted
Project Data     (Last Modified On 7/9/2009)
Status: Native

 

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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.

 


 

 
 
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