Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

ROUGH BUTTONWEED

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Diodia teres Walt.

McPherson County, Kansas

Annual

Height: 4-20 inches

Family: Rubiaceae - Madder Family

Flowering Period: July, August, September

Also Called:

Poorjoe, buttonweed.

Stems:

Erect; branches prostrate to ascending or spreading, glabrous or usually finely pubescent.

Leaves:

Opposite, entire, narrowly lanceolate to linear, .8 to 1.6 inches long, 1/8 to 1/3 inch wide, stiff, mostly sessile; margins rough, often rolled under, fringed with minute bristles; tip pointed to tapering-pointed, bearing bristle; stipules several to many, inconspicuous, long, thread-like, reddish-brown, sheathing stem.

Inflorescences:

1-3 in upper leaf axils, sessile.

Flowers:

Sepals 4, unequal, ovate to lanceolate, 1/16 to 1/12 inch long, fringed; corolla funnel-form, 1/6 to 1/4 inch long, pale purple, pinkish-purple or rarely white; lobes 4; stamens 4, usually protruding; stigma head-like.

Fruits:

Nutlets, 2, top-shaped, 1/10 to 1/6 inch long, reddish-brown, hairy, each 1-seeded; sepals persistent.

Habitat:

Pastures, prairies, waste areas, roadsides, open woods, fields; dry, sandy or rocky soils.

Distribution:

Principally east 1/2 of Kansas.

Origin:

Native

Rough buttonweed flower and leaf