Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Slender false foxglove

SLENDER FALSE FOXGLOVE

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Agalinis tenuifolia (Vahl ) Raf.

Mon-Shon Prairie, Barton County, Missouri

Annual

Height: 4-24 inches

Family: Orobanchaceae - Broomrape Family

Flowering Period: August, September,October

Stems:

Erect, simple or with ascending branches, mostly glabrous, dark green, drying black.

Leaves:

Opposite, sessile, entire, linear, .4 to 2.5 inches long, 1/25 to 1/5 inch wide, slightly rough with short, stiff-hairs or glabrous, dark green.

Inflorescences:

Raceme, flowers borne singly in upper leaf axils; bracts leaf-like below, progressively reduced upwards.

Flowers:

Stalks thread-like, 2/5 to 4/5 inch long, widely spreading to upward curving, glabrous; calyx bell-shaped, 1/10 to 1/5 inch long, 5-lobed; lobes broadly triangular, tips abruptly pointed; corolla weakly 2-lipped, 2/5 to 3/5 inch long, pink, magenta or pale purple, throat with purple or red spots; upper 2 lobes arched over anthers and stigma; lower 3 lobes spreading; margins of lobes fringed with hairs; stamens 4.

Fruits:

Capsule, spherical, 1/6 to 1/4 inch long; seeds numerous, irregularly triangular, about 1/25 inch long, brown.

Habitat:

Low prairies, borders of stream and ponds, roadside ditches, open woods, flood plains; moist soils.

Distribution:

Principally east 2/3; scattered in west 1/3 of Kansas

Origin:

Native

Uses:

Native Americans took an infusion of slender false foxglove to treat diarrhea.

Comments:

Slender false foxglove is fairly common and widespread. It is parasitic on the roots of a variety of host plants, including grasses, pussy-toes, gray goldenrod, western yarrow, wild strawberry, and tall anemone.

Slender false foxglove