Slender heliotrope

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Slender heliotrope leaves

Slender heliotrope leaf

Slender heliotrope

Slender heliotrope inflorescences

Slender heliotrope flower

Slender heliotrope

Slender heliotrope

Slender heliotrope

Morphology

Stem

Erect, slender, much branched, stiff-hairy.

Leaves

Mostly opposite, sessile, linear, .4 to 1.2 inches long, less than 1/8 inch wide; surface whitish stiff-hairy; margins often rolled under; tips tapering to points.

Inflorescence

Solitary flowers at branch tips and in upper leaf axils.

Flower

Sepals 5, unequal, free, densely stiff-hairy; corolla regular, funnel-shaped, white with yellowish eye; tube stiff-hairy, not exceeding shortest sepals; expanded upper portion of tube 5-lobed, 1/8 to 1/5 inch wide; lobes nearly equal, tips rounded, outer face minutely-hairy; stamens 5, not protruding from corolla.

Fruit

Nutlets, 4, smooth, minutely-pubescent, much shorter than persistant sepals.

Ecology

Habitat

Open sites, open woodlands, and limestone outcrops; dry, frequently limey soils.

Distribution

Southeast 1/4 of Kansas.