Daisy, Blackfoot - Melampodium leucanthum

(Plains Blackfoot)

Family: Sunflower (Asteraceae) - Native

Location

On trail before #1 (N35D33'03.209 X W105D41'11.568) and on woodland trail after 16 before parking lot


Flowers first observed: 8/4/17


Plants w/Flowers

The Flower


Distribution

" Found on dry slopes, open sites, grasslands, along roadcuts, and in shrublands, often on limestone, from 2,000-5,000 ft (610-1524 m); flowers March-October. Distribution: AZ, NM, s CO, KA, OK, TX; south to c MEX." (SEINet)


Description

"Perennial suffrutescent herb or subshrub, 12-40 cm tall, from a stout woody root; lower stems often woody, the bark brownish or gray brown, fissured; upper stems strigose and cinereous, the hairs stiff, white, and appressed. Leaves: Opposite along the branchlets, tapering at the base into winged petioles; blades linear to oblong-oblanceolate, 1-4 cm long and 2-5 mm wide, strigose, with a midrib that appears prominent on the underside of the leaf and margins that are entire, slightly undulate, or occasionally with small pinnate lobes. Flowers: Flower heads showy radiate, cream colored with yellow centers, on peduncles 3-7 cm long, well surpassing the leaves; involucres hemispheric, 7-12 mm in diameter, the bracts (phyllaries) in two series, the outer series of 5 phyllaries united at the base, ovate, and the inner series of phyllaries each enclosing a ray floret; ray florets 8-13 per flower head, the laminae (ray petals) 7-13 mm long, cream-white, the undersides often veined with purple; disc florets 25-50 per flower head, yellow, 2 mm long. Fruits: Achenes 4-5 mm long, transversely rugulose with short irregular ridges; lacking a pappus." (SEINet)


Ethnobotanical Uses

None Found


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