Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

LATE EUPATORIUM

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Eupatorium serotinum Michx.

Ellsworth County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 1.5-6.5 feet

Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family

Flowering Period: August, September,October

Also Called:

Late-flowering throughwort, fall boneset.

Stems:

Erect, much branched above, short-hairy.

Leaves:

Mostly opposite but uppermost sometimes alternate; stalk .4 to 1.2 inches long; blade narrowly lanceolate to narrowly ovate, 2 to 8 inches long, 3/5 to 4 inches wide, upper surface nearly glabrous; veins 3-5, conspicuous; margins toothed; tip gradually tapering to sharp point.

Inflorescences:

Corymb, terminal; heads numerous.

Flowers:

Heads cylindric, 1/6 to 1/4 inch tall; bracts linear, pubescent, overlapping in 2-3 series, tips rounded or blunt; ray florets absent; disk florets 9-15, white.

Fruits:

Achene, narrow, oblong to oval, longitudinally ribbed, black, tipped with white bristles, enclosing small seed.

Habitat:

Open moist woods in bottomlands, old pastures, feedlots, waste areas; moist soils; occasionally in drier, open places.

Distribution:

East 1/2 of Kansas.

Uses:

Native Americans boiled the flowers and took the tea to treat typhoid fever.

Late eupatorium flowers