American basket-flower

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American basket-flower

American basket-flower inflorescence

American basket-flower habit

American basket-flower

American basket-flower

Morphology

Stem

Erect, sparingly branched above mid-stem, glabrous, minutely scabrous and minutely glandular.

Leaves

Alternate, simple, sessile, mostly entire, margins entire or minutely toothed, surfaces glabrous or scabrous, often dotted with minute yellow to brown glands; basal blades often absent at anthesis, oblanceolate to narrowly obovate, 4 to 8 inches long, .6 to 1.4 inches wide, angled or tapered to sharp point; cauline blades gradually reduced, ovate to lanceolate, mostly 2 to 4 inches long.

Inflorescence

Heads, hemispheric, borne singly at end of stem or branches, disciform, 1.2 to 3.2 inches across, showy. Involucres broadly hemispheric, 1 to 1.8 inches tall, wider than tall. Phyllaries many in 6-10 series, appressed, overlapping, of two distinct parts, lower part pale green, entire, upper part straw-colored, with a comb-like fringe of 9-15 stiff, parallel bristles.

Flower

Ray florets absent; discoid florets many, deeply 5-lobed, lobes linear; outer corollas larger, pink to occasionally purplish-red or rarely white, 1.4 to 2 inches, raylike, usually sterile; central corollas pinkish, .8 to 1 inch, usually fertile.

Fruit

Achenes, grayish brown to black, obovoid to oblong, .16 to .2 inch, somewhat flattened, glabrous or sparsely hairy; pappus bristles white, stiff, unequal, barbed, .24 to .55 inch.

Ecology

Habitat

Prairies, fields, roadsides, disturbed sites

Distribution

Collected in Meade, Neosho, Saline, and Woodson counties. Specimens from Meade and Neosho counties appear to be from introductions.

Practical Information

Uses

The Kiowa applied a poultice of leaves to skin sores (Moerman 1998).

Additional Notes

Synonyms

Alternative scientific names that have been used for this plant.