Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

ROUGH AGALINIS

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Agalinis aspera (Dougl. ex Benth.) Britton

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Chase County, Kansas

Annual

Height: 8-30 inches

Family: Orobanchaceae - Broomrape Family

Flowering Period: August, September

Also Called:

Rough purple gerardia.

Stems:

Erect, slender, branches nearly upright, slightly rough with short, stiff hairs.

Leaves:

Opposite, sessile, ascending, narrowly linear to filiform, .75 to 1.5 inch long, less than 1/10 inch wide, rough short-hairy above, glabrous below; margins entire, often rolling downward; tips sharp pointed; clusters of small leaves in branch axils.

Inflorescences:

Racemes of showy flowers on slender stalks in upper leaf axils.

Flowers:

Calyces bell-shaped, lobes prominent, triangular, minutely pubescent; corollas 5-lobed, 3/4 to 1 inch long, pale purple; throats with 2 pale yellow lines and reddish or purplish spots; lobes spreading, usually glabrous inside, densely pubescent outside and on margins; stamens 4.

Fruits:

Capsules, oblong to oval, about 1/3 inch long; seeds numerous, dark.

Habitat:

Dry upland prairies and open woodlands.

Distribution:

East 2/3 of Kansas.

Comments:

Rough agalinis is partially parasitic on the roots of other plants. The foliage tends to turn black when drying.

Related to Fine-leaf gerardia .

Rough agalinis inflorescence