Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Mock bishop's-weed

MOCK BISHOP'S-WEED

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Ptilimnium nuttallii (DC. ) Britton

Cherokee County, Kansas

Annual

Height: 1-2 feet

Family: Apiaceae - Parsley Family

Flowering Period: June, July, August

Also Called:

Nuttall's mock bishop's-weed, laceflower.

Stems:

Erect, slender, branched above, glabrous.

Leaves:

Alternate, 2-3 times pinnately compound, 1.2 to 4 inches long, narrowly egg-shaped in outline; segments thread-like, .4 to 2.4 inches long, not crowded, alternate or opposite on the rachis; stalk to .4 inch long; basal leaves usually absent at flowering.

Inflorescences:

Compound umbels, .8 to 2.4 inches across, terminal and in leaf axils; rays 4-30, slender, .4 to 1.2 inches long; flowers 5 to numerous in each small cluster; bracts 2-15, thread-like, usually entire, shorter than rays.

Flowers:

Small; stalks 1/8 to 1/3 inch long; calyx teeth conspicuous, narrowly triangular; petals 5, obovate, white; tips shallowly notched; anthers purplish.

Fruits:

Dry, tiny, round, slightly flattened, ribbed, glabrous, brown, straw-colored between ribs, splitting into pair of 1-seeded segments.

Habitat:

Low moist prairies, roadsides, railroads, stream banks, ditches; moist sandy or silty soils.

Distribution:

Southeast corner of Kansas.

Origin:

Native

Mock bishop's-weed inflorescence