Wild quinine

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Wild quinine

Wild quinine leaf

Wild quinine florets

Wild quinine inflorescence

Wild quinine

Wild quinine

Wild quinine

Wild quinine

Wild quinine

Wild quinine leaf

Morphology

Stem

Erect, usually branched.

Leaves

Usually cauline, sometimes also basal, alternate; petiole present on basal and lower cauline leaves, absent on upper cauline leaves; blade ovate to lanceolate, 1.2 to 13.75 inches long, .8 to 4.7 inches wide, margins usually crenate to serrate, sometimes coarsely toothed or somewhat lobed proximally, surfaces hispid to scabrous.

Inflorescence

Heads in compact, corymb-like to panicle-like arrays; peduncles .04 to .5 inch.

Flower

Phyllaries: 10(-16) in 2 series, distinct; outer ones ovate to lanceolate, .1 to .2 inch, inner ones orbiculate, .16 to .24 inch. Receptacle flat to conic. Ray florets 5(-6), pistillate, fertile; corolla white or yellowish white, ligules ovate to orbiculate, .04 to .08 inch. Disk florets 15-35, staminate; corolla white or yellowish white, funnelform, lobes 5.

Fruit

Achenes black, obovoid, .12 to .16 inch, often compressed; pappus absent but sometimes 2-4 pappus-like scales near apex of achene.

Ecology

Habitat

Tallgrass prairies, open oak-hickory woodlands.

Distribution

Two varieties occur in Kansas. Var. hispidum (Raf.) Mears occurs in Butler, Chautauqua, Cowley, Elk, and Greenwood counties and var. integrifolium occurs only in Cherokee County.

Practical Information

Uses

When quinine was unavailable, the flowering inflorescence of was sometimes used to treat malaria. Native Americans applied a poultice of fresh leaves to burns and soaked swollen feet in an infusion of the plant.

Synonyms

Alternative scientific names that have been used for this plant.