Button snakeroot

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Button snakeroot inflorescence

Button snakeroot

Button snakeroot inflorescence

Button snakeroot

Button snakeroot leaves

Button snakeroot inflorescence

Button snakeroot

Button snakeroot inflorescence

Button snakeroot flowers

Button snakeroot inflorescence

Morphology

Stem

Erect, solitary, branching above, glabrous, blue-green waxy, ridged.

Leaves

Alternate, simple, rigid, bluish-green, broadly-linear, 4 to 32 inches long, .4 to 1.2 inch wide, parallel-veined, glabrous above and below, clasping; margins with widely-spaced weak bristles; upper leaves progressively smaller.

Inflorescence

Dense spherical to egg-shaped heads, each 1/2 to 1 inch in diameter and individually stalked; bracts 5-10, up to 3/5 inch long, spreading ascending, mostly entire, shorter than heads.

Flower

Small, inconspicuous; bracts among flowers, spiny, whitish; sepals 5; petals 5, white; stamens 5; styles 2, threadlike, protruding.

Fruit

Dry, oblong, 1/6 to 1/3 inch long, angles with flattened scales.

Ecology

Habitat

Moist meadows, wet or dry prairies, and rocky open woodlands.

Distribution

East 1/3 of Kansas.

Practical Information

Uses

Native Americans and pioneers used this plant medicinally. An infusion was held in the mouth for toothaches and taken for kidney disorders and neuralgia and a decoction used to prevent whooping cough. An infusion of the root was used as a snakebite remedy and the stem and leaves were chewed for nose-bleeds.

Additional Notes