Vernonia baldwinii

Vernonia baldwinii, commonly known as western ironweed[1] or Baldwin's ironweed,[2] is a perennial herb native to the central United States.[3] It is in the Asteraceae (aster) family.

Vernonia baldwinii
Vernonia baldwinii inflorescence

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Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Vernonia
Species:
V. baldwinii
Binomial name
Vernonia baldwinii

Description

Vernonia baldwinii is a tall, perennial herb with rhizomes. Its stems are densely tomentose, branched, round in cross section, and range up to 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in) in height, sometimes taller. Its leaves are lanceolate, cauline and alternate, and are about 15 cm (5.9 in) in length and 4.5 cm (1.8 in) in width.[4] The larger leaves have serrated edges.[5] The upper surface of the leaves is minutely hairy, and the lower surface has longer, often bent or tangled hairs.[1]

The inflorescence is showy and somewhat flat-topped, consisting of irregularly branched terminal panicles, and measures 30 cm (1 ft) or more across. Flowerheads have 17 to 34 disk flowers only, with no ray flowers. The corollas on the disk flowers are deep pink to purple, 5-lobed, glabrous, and 0.3–0.4 in (8–10 mm) long. [5][1]

Taxonomy

The genus Vernonia is named for the English botanist William Vernon, and the species baldwinii is named for William Baldwin, the American botanist and physician who collected the plant.[6]

The common name "western ironweed" is derived from the range of the plant, the western United States, and derived from the toughness of the stem and roots of the plant.[6]

Distribution and habitat

It grows in dry soil in prairies, pastures, open grounds, and woods, ranging from Iowa to Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas.[7]

Ecology

The flowers bloom in the summer, from May to September, attracting bees, butterflies, and other insects. American goldfinches and other birds eat the seeds.[8]

References
  1. "Vernonia baldwinii page". www.missouriplants.com.
  2. "NatureServe Explorer 2.0". explorer.natureserve.org.
  3. USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Vernonia baldwinii". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  4. Robert H. Mohlenbrock (2017). Flowering Plants: Asteraceae. The Illustrated Flora of Illinois. Vol. 3. SIU Press. p. 89. ISBN 9780809336067.
  5. "Know Your Natives – Baldwin's Ironweed". Arkansas Native Plant Society. 12 August 2019.
  6. Amanda Neill, ed. (2005). A Dictionary of Common Wildflowers of Texas & the Southern Great Plains (illustrated ed.). TCU Press. p. 160. ISBN 9780875653099.
  7. Nathaniel Lord Britton, Addison Brown (1913). An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States: Canada and the British Possessions from Newfoundland to the Parallel of the Southern Boundary of Virginia, and from the Atlantic Ocean Westward to the 102d Meridian. Vol. 3 (2 ed.). C. Scribner's Sons. p. 353.
  8. "Western Ironweed (Baldwin's Ironweed)". Missouri Department of Conservation.
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