Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Pale Indian plantain

PALE INDIAN PLANTAIN

File Size: 128 KB

Arnoglossum atriplicifolium (L. ) H.E. Robins

[=Cacalia atriplicifolia L.]

Marshall County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 3-10 feet

Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family

Flowering Period: June, July, August, September

Stems:

Erect, unbranched below inflorescence, round in cross section, weakly ridged or smooth, waxy.

Leaves:

Alternate, basal leaves few, long-stalked, blades triangular-ovate or heart-shaped, to 12 inches long and wide, palmately-veined with 3-10 main veins, glabrous; margins toothed or shallowly-lobed; lobes usually broadly pointed; lower stem leaves similar, more conspicuously lobed; stem leaves progressively reduced upward; lower surface pale green, waxy; upper stem leaves short-stalked.

Inflorescences:

Cyme, corymb-like, terminal and in axils of uppermost leaves; heads numerous, 100+, involucre stalked, narrowly cylindric, 1/3 to 2/5 inch tall; involcural bracts 5, erect, spreading in fruit, oblong, greenish-white, rounded on back.

Flowers:

Ray florets absent; disk florets 5; corollas deeply 5-lobed, 1/3 to 1/2 inch long, white or greenish-white, sometimes pale purple.

Fruits:

Achene, egg-shaped to spindle-shaped, 1/6 to 1/5 inch long, 10-ribbed, brown or purplish, tipped with numerous white bristles 1/6 to 1/4 inch long, enclosing small seed.

Habitat:

Edges of woods, stream banks, occasionally pastures and roadsides.

Distribution:

East 1/3 of Kansas.

Origin:

Native

Uses:

Native Americans applied a poultice of pale Indian plantain to cuts and bruises and used it to treat cancer and to draw out poisonous substances. The leaves were powdered and used as a seasoning.

Pale Indian plantain inflorescence