NODDING LIZARD'S-TAIL
File Size: 65 KB
 
Saururus cernuus  L.
Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Center, Newton County, Missouri
Perennial
Height: 6-48 inches
Family: Saururaceae - Lizard's-tail Family
Flowering Period:   June, July, August, September
Also Called: Water-dragon.
Stems: Erect or ascending, simple or few-branched. Plants pubescent or glabrescent.
Leaves: Cauline, alternate, simple; 1.6 to 10 inches; petiole .4 to 4 inches; blade ovate, .8 to 6.7 inches long, .4 to 4 inches wide, base cordate, margins entire, tip acuminate.
Inflorescences: Terminal and/or opposite leaves, racemes, spike-like, lax, cylindric, 2 to 14 inches, not subtended by petal-like bracts.
Flowers: Flowers 170-350, each subtended by bracts; bracts green, boat-shaped, .06 to .12 inch; perianth absent; stamens 3-8, usually 6.
Fruits: Schizocarps, brown, nearly spherical, .06 to .12 inch; seeds brown, .04 to .05 inch.
Habitat: Wet soil, shallow water in marshes, swampy woods, and along slow-moving streams.
Distribution: Kansas populations are known from Cherokee and Linn counties.
Origin: Native
Uses: Native Americans applied a poultice of mashed boiled or roasted roots to wounds and spider bites.
Comments: Plants sometimes form large colonies by long, creeping rhizomes. cernuus, - "nodding", alludes to the inflorescence.
Nodding lizard's-tail inflorescence
66 KB
Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Center, Newton County, Missouri
Nodding lizard's-tail
111 KB
Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Center, Newton County, Missouri
Nodding lizard's-tail
64 KB
Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Center, Newton County, Missouri
Nodding lizard's-tail leaf
75 KB
Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Center, Newton County, Missouri
Nodding lizard's-tail
117 KB
Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Center, Newton County, Missouri
Nodding lizard's-tail
100 KB
Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Center, Newton County, Missouri