Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Field snake-cotton

FIELD SNAKE-COTTON

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Froelichia floridana (Nutt. ) Moq. var. campestris

Russell County, Kansas

Annual

Height: 12-48 inches

Family: Amaranthaceae - Pigweed Family

Flowering Period: June, July, August, September

Stems:

Erect, stout, usually arching, unbranched or sparsely branched above, white-woolly.

Leaves:

Opposite, simple, sessile or stalked, narrowly oblong to oblanceolate or spatulate, 1 to 5.5 inches long, .25 to 1 inch wide, broader at or below middle, silky or downy above, white-woolly below, occur mostly on lower 1/2 of stem; margins entire; tips pointed or blunt.

Inflorescences:

Spikes, 1/2 to 4 inches long, about 1/2 inch in diameter, resembling pinecones covered with white woolly hairs, terminal and often lateral on stalks.

Flowers:

Inconspicuous, sessile; subtended by membrane-like bract and 2 bractlets; calyces 5-lobed, lobes less than 1/12 inch long, white-woolly; petals absent.

Fruits:

Flask-shaped, 1-seeded, densely white-woolly; wings 2, lateral; seeds lens-shaped, rust-colored.

Habitat:

Dry, loose, sandy soils of prairies, roadsides, and stream valleys.

Distribution:

Principally central 1/3 and southwest corner of Kansas.

Forage Value:

Field snake-cotton is poor forage for livestock but is consumed by deer.

Comments:

The inflorescence sometimes is used in dried floral arrangements.

See See slender snake-cotton

Field snake-cotton flowers