WESTERN MARBLESEED
File Size: 63 KB
 
Onosmodium molle  Michx.
Chase County, Kansas
Perennial
Height: 18-48 inches
Family: Boraginaceae - Borage Family
Flowering Period:   May, June, July
Also Called: False gromwell.
Stems: Erect, several to many, branched above, covered with stiff white hairs.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, sessile, lanceolate to ovate, 2 to 5 inches long, .5 to 1.25 inch wide, stiff-hairy, 5-7 prominent veins beneath; basal leaves usually absent at flowering.
Inflorescences: Racemes, coiled, terminal.
Flowers: 5-parted, sessile; calyces 5-lobed, sepals narrowly lanceolate, stiff-hairy; corollas 5-lobed, narrowly tube-shaped, about 1/4 to 1/2 inch long, dull white, lobes converging, hairy; stamens 5; style thread-like, extending beyond tips of corollas.
Fruits: 1-4 nutlets, oval, hard, whitish, 1-seeded.
Habitat: Dry, sandy or gravelly prairies, pastures and open woods, most abundant on hillsides in alkaline soils.
Distribution: Throughout except southwest corner of Kansas.
Uses: Some Great Plains tribes mixed crushed leaves and stems of western marbleseed with grease and used it as a rub to treat numbness and rheumatism.
Comments: Western marbleseed has grayish green foliage. The name "marbleseed" comes from the hard, shiny, white nutlets that it produces.

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