BETONY NOSEBURN
File Size: 156 KB
 
Tragia betonicifolia  Nutt.
Russell County, Kansas
Perennial
Height: 6-22 inches
Family: Euphorbiaceae - Spurge Family
Flowering Period:   June, July, August
Stems: Decumbent to ascending or erect; sap watery.
Leaves: Cauline, alternate, simple; stipules present; petiole .2 to 1 inch; blade ovate to ovate-lanceolate or triangular-lanceolate, .3 to 2.4 inches long, .28 to 1.2 inch wide, base cordate to truncate, margins serrate, tip acute.
Inflorescences: Racemes, axillary or terminal, .4 to 2.4 inches; staminate and pistillate flowers on same plant, pistillate flowers proximal and staminate flowers distal; staminate flowers 15-80 per raceme, pistillate flowers 1-2 per raceme; staminate bracts lanceolate, 1/25 to 1/12 inch; pistillate bracts 1/16 to 1/12 inch.
Flowers: Staminate flowers greenish: pedicel short; sepals 3-4, 1/20 to 1/10 inch; petals 0; stamens 3(-4). Pistillate flowers greenish: sepals 6, connate basally, lanceolate, 1/13 to 1/5 inch, longer than gynoecium (collective term for the pistil(s) of a flower); petals 0; styles 3, connate proximally more than 1/2 their lengths, simple.
Fruits: Capsules 3-lobed, not enveloped by persistent bracts, 1/6 to 1/5 inch long, 1/4 to 2/5 inch wide; seeds dark brown with light brown streaks, globose to ovoid, 1/8 to 1/6 inch.
Habitat: Rocky to gravelly or sandy tallgrass and mixed-grass prairies, glades, clearings in oak-hickory woodlands, occasionally rocky old fields.
Distribution: East 3/5 of Kansas
Origin: Native
Comments: The herbage is covered with stiff stinging hairs that are painful when touched, thus the common name nose burn. Tragia, for Hieronymus Bock, a German botanist whose Latinized name was Tragus and betonicifolia, with leaves like those of betony, Stachys.
 See also catnip noseburn

Betony noseburn
151 KB
Ru
Betony noseburn fruit
44 KB
Russell County, Kansas
Betony noseburn flowers
35 KB
Russell County, Kansas
Betony noseburn
104 KB
Russell County, Kansas
Betony noseburn
115 KB
Russell County, Kansas
Betony noseburn fruit
49 KB
Russell County, Kansas
Betony nose burn leaves
127 KB
Wabaunsee County, Kansas
Betony noseburn habit
166 KB
Ottawa County, Kansas
Betony noseburn flowering
142 KB
Ottawa County, Kansas
Betony noseburn
118 KB
Ottawa County, Kansas