Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Virginia waterleaf

VIRGINIA WATERLEAF

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Hydrophyllum virginianum L.

Johnson County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 12-32 inches

Family: Boraginaceae - Borage Family

Flowering Period: May, June

Stems:

Erect, branched. Plants glabrescent or hispid to strigose.

Leaves:

Alternate: petiole 2 to 10 inches; basal and lower cauline pinnatifid to nearly pinnatisect, 1.8 to 4 inches long, 2.8 to 4.7 inches wide, segments 3-5, triangular or obovate to oblanceolate, elliptic, or lanceolate, margins coarsely serrate; upper cauline pinnatifid.

Inflorescences:

Cymes, terminal, 5-30-flowered; peduncles .8 to 8 inches.

Flowers:

Pedicels 1/8 to 2/5 inch; sepals connate basally, calyx 1/8 to 1/4 inch, sinuses without conspicuous auricles, lobes linear; corolla lavender to white, bell-shaped, 1/3 to 2/5 inch; stamens exserted 1/6 to 1/3 inch.

Fruits:

Capsules, ovoid to spheric, 1/8 to 1/6 inch, pubescent to hispid; seeds brown or orangish brown, ellipsoid, 1/10 to 1/7 inch, honeycombed.

Habitat:

Maple-basswood, floodplain, and moist oak-hickory forests

Distribution:

East 1/4 of Kansas and Riley County

Origin:

Native

Uses:

The Iroquois cooked the young plants and leaves for food and used a decoction of roots for mouth sores and cracked lips.

Comments:

Hydrophyllum, water + leaf, and virginianum, of Virginia. See also Notch-bract waterleaf