BARBARA'S BUTTONS
File Size: 57 KB
 
Marshallia caespitosa  Nutt. ex  DC.
Wildcat Glades, Newton County, Missouri
Perennial
Height: 8-20 inches
Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family
Flowering Period:   May, June
Also Called: Puffballs.
Stems: Erect, unbranched, arising singly or often clustered, somewhat hairy, especially upward.
Leaves: Mostly basal, alternate, firm; petiolate; blades linear-lanceolate to linear-elliptic, 2 to 6 inches long, .1 to .4 inch wide, 3-nerved, margins entire, surfaces glabrous.
Inflorescences: Heads borne singly, discoid, .8 to 1.3 inch across; peduncles .4 to 1.1 inch; involucres hemispheric; phyllaries 12-24 in 2 series, narrow, leaf-like, tips obtuse to acute, often mucronate.
Flowers: Ray florets absent; disc florets 45-90, tubular, fertile; corollas white to pale lavender, usually hairy, prominently lobed; lobes 5, lance-linear, .16 to .24 inch long.
Fruits: Achene, turbinate or clavate, 5-angled, 1-ribbed; pappus of 5 translucent scales, .1 inch long, equaling or exceeding the achene, margins irregularly fringed.
Habitat: Limestone outcrops, sandy soils
Distribution: Montgomery and Cherokee counties in Kansas
Origin: Native
Comments: Marshallia for Moses Marshall, 1758-1813, American botanist.

Barbara's buttons inflorescence
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Wildcat Glades, Newton County, Missouri
Barbara's buttons florets
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Wildcat Glades, Newton County, Missouri
Barbara's buttons florets
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Wildcat Glades, Newton County, Missouri
Barbara's buttons habit
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Wildcat Glades, Newton County, Missouri
Barbara's buttons leaves
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Wildcat Glades, Newton County, Missouri
Barbara's buttons habit
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Wildcat Glades, Newton County, Missouri
Barbara's buttons habit
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Wildcat Glades, Newton County, Missouri