Slender greenthread

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Slender greenthread inflorescence

Slender greenthread

Slender greenthread

Slender greenthread

Slender greenthread

Slender greenthread inflorescences

Slender greenthread inflorescence

Slender greenthread

Slender green thread head

Slender greenthread

Slender greenthread

Slender greenthread

Slender greenthread

Slender greenthread

Slender greenthread leaves

Morphology

Stem

Erect, slender, single or clustered, branched above, bluish green, glabrous.

Leaves

Opposite, short-stalked to sessile, erect or ascending, rigid, 1.5 to 3.5 inches long, simple or deeply pinnately divided with linear segments about 1/8 inch wide; evenly but sparsely distributed along stem, sometimes concentrated on lower 1/2.

Inflorescence

Heads, solitary, terminal, on stalks 3-9 inches long, cup-shaped, to 3/4 inch wide.

Flower

Bracts of 2 sizes; outer bracts 4-6, oblong to ovate, much shorter than inner; inner bracts 8, ovate-lanceolate, united at bases; ray florets absent; disk florets numerous, corollas deeply lobed, yellow with reddish brown veins.

Fruit

Achenes, about 1/4 inch long, dark brown, tipped with 2 triangular, barbed awns, enclosing small seed.

Ecology

Habitat

Open prairies, pastures, and roadsides, particularly in rocky limestone soil.

Distribution

Throughout but infrequent in east 1/3 of Kansas.

Practical Information

Uses

Native Americans in the Southwest made a tea-like beverage from slender greenthread. Flowers yielded rust-colored dye and roots yielded a yellowish orange dye.

Additional Notes