Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Rush skeletonplant

RUSH SKELETONPLANT

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Lygodesmia juncea (Pursh ) D. Don ex Hook.

Cimarron National Grassland, Morton County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 4-28 inches

Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family

Flowering Period: June, July, August

Also Called:

Rush skeletonweed.

Stems:

Erect, ascending, or nearly decumbent, stiff, much-branched from base, grayish green, ribbed, glabrous, waxy; sap yellowish.

Leaves:

Alternate, simple, few, linear, usually less than 1 1/2 inch long; upper leaves scale-like, about 1/4 inch long; margins entire; tips pointed.

Inflorescences:

Heads, solitary, terminal.

Flowers:

Bracts 5-7, linear; ray florets usually 5, pink to lavender, about 1/2 inch long; tips squared, 5-toothed; disk florets absent.

Fruits:

Achenes, cylindric, about 1/3 inch long, tipped with numerous hair-like bristles, enclosing small seed.

Habitat:

Dry, open prairies, pastures, waste areas, and roadsides, most abundant in alkaline sites.

Distribution:

West 2/3 of Kansas.

Toxicity:

Plants will accumulate nitrates.

Forage Value:

Rush skeletonplant is unpalatable to livestock due to bitterness.

Uses:

Great Plains Indians used this plant to treat diarrhea, coughs, heartburn, and kidney ailments, as well as saddle sores on their horses. After childbirth, mothers drank a tea made from the plant to enhance lactation.

Comments:

The stems appear leafless, which provides the common name "skeletonplant". Spherical galls often seen on the stems are caused by the gall wasp Anistrophus pisum, a parasitic insect.

Rush skeletonplant