This research program was initiated in 1999 as part of an SDSU Agricultural Experiment Station funded program in the laboratory of Dr. R. Neil Reese. This project is designed to provide research and educational opportunities to students interested in conservation and utilization of native plant species, as well as encourage the use of native plants by small family farmers as alternative crops in South Dakota.
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This site is dedicated to Mrs. Dorothy Gill, a Dakota Elder, a mentor and friend.
- To locate a plant by the Native American name, or common name use the search box in the left side-bar.
- A glossary of terms used in this collection can be found here.
- Each plant contains supplemental images documenting the life cycle of the plant.
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Taxonomy on this site follows that of the USDA (https://plants.usda.gov/home), many of the Lakota plant names are taken from Black Elk and Flying By (https://puc.sd.gov/commission/dockets/HydrocarbonPipeline/2014/HP14-001/testimony/betest.pdf) and taxonomic descriptions are adapted in part from the Flora of the Great Plains, Great Plains Flora Association ; Ronald L. McGregor, coordinator ; T.M. Barkley, editor ; Ralph E. Brooks, associate editor ; Eileen K. Schofield, associate editor. University Press of Kansas, 1986.
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Grossulariaceae : Ribes aureum var. villosum
R. Neil Reese
Ribes aureum var. villosum is a perennial woody shrub, erect to arching main stems are 1-2 long, the younger stems and branches light brown, darkening with age. The stems are unarmed. The alternate, simple leaves develop directly on the branches of the current year and in clusters on projections from older stems. The leaf petioles are 2-5 cm long, the blades about the same length, broadly diamond to oval shaped, with 3 main rounded or bluntly pointed lobes, occasionally more, often further divided into shallow lobes. The margins are entire, or with a few blunt to rounded teeth. The inflorescence consists of axillary racemes of 3-8 flowers on peduncles 3-6 mm long. The yellow calyx tube is 10-14 mm long with 5 reflexed lobes, 3-5 mm long and showier than the corolla. The corolla has 5, erect, yellow petals, 2-3.5 mm long, often with all of the petals or their distal ends turning red. There are 5 stamens 1-2 mm long, attached to the hypanthium opposite the sepals. The fruit is a globose berry, 7-9 mm in diameter, greenish yellow and turning black as it matures. Buffalo currant blooms in April and May on dry, open hillsides, along the edges of thickets and streambanks, predominantly in western South Dakota.
Synonym: Ribes odoratum
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Grossulariaceae : Ribes hirtellum
R. Neil Reese
Ribes hirtellum is a perennial shrub, with erect to ascending stems with 1-3 nodal spines or often lacking these spines, the stems growing 0.5-1.5 m in height. The internodal prickles are few when present. The upper stems develop thin gray bark, shedding away along with any prickles, and the older branches are brown. The simple, alternate leaves are usually clustered on short lateral shoots, with slender, hairy petioles are up to 5 cm in length, often longer than the blades. The blades are almost round in outline, 1-5-3.5 cm long and 2-4 cm wide, with 3 major lobes and 2 smaller outer lobes. The margins have shallow, rounded teeth. The flowers are solitary or in small clusters along the stem, with slender, hairy pedicels 5-8 mm long. The flower parts form a yellow to lightly purplish, bell-shaped, hypanthium that is 5-8 mm long with 5 light green, flared sepals 3-4 mm long, and with 5, erect petals, 1-2 mm long. There are 5 stamens, opposite the sepals, 3-5 mm long, exerted above the petals. The fruit is a smooth, blue to black, ovoid to spherical berry, 8-10 mm in diameter, with persisting floral remnants on the end. Hairystem gooseberry blooms in May and June in rocky woods, along hillsides, in ravines and thickets along the eastern edge and western half of South Dakota.
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Hydrophyllaceae : Hydrophullum virginianum
R. Neil Reese
Hydrophyllum virginianum is a rhizomatous perennial herb with stems growing 10 to 90 cm in height. It has basal and alternate cauline leaves that are deeply pinnately divided, 5-30 cm long and 5-15 cm wide, with 5-9 ovate lanceolate to rhombic segments, each up to 11 cm long with the lowest pair distinct. The petioles are 5- 25 cm long and the leaf blades often have white markings that look like water spots. The inflorescence consists of 1-several subcapitate clusters of flowers, the peduncles 2-20 cm long, lifting the flowers above the leaves, and each flower has a pedicel up to 1 cm in length. The 5 linear lobes of the calyx are 4-7 mm long and have hairs along the edges. The bell-shaped corollas are white to purple, the tube 3-5 mm long with 5 lobes 3-5 mm long. The stamens are exerted 4-8 mm beyond the petals and the style is exerted by 5-10 mm. The fruit is a 2-seeded capsule. Waterleaf blooms from May into July in mesic woodlands in eastern South Dakota.
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Irdaceae : Iris missouriensis
R. Neil Reese
Iris missouriensis is a rhizomatous perennial herb with erect, leafless. flower stalks (scapes) 25-60 cm tall. The basal leaves are linear, 25-45 cm long and usually less than 1 cm wide. The 1-2 flowers emerge from a spathe, 5-7.5 cm long. Each flower has 3 light to dark blue, spreading or reflexed sepals, 4-6 cm long, lined with purple and with a whitish blotch at the base, and three smaller, upright blue petals. There are 3 stamens opposite the sepals. The fruit is an oblong, 6 angled capsule, 5-8 cm long. Western blue flag blooms in June and July in wet meadows, along streambanks and open woodlands in western South Dakota.
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Iridaceae : Sisyrinchium campestre
R. Neil Reese
Sisyrinchium campestre is a perennial grass-like herb with narrow, winged stems, 10-40 cm tall and 1-2 mm wide. The basal leaves are about 1/2 to 2/3 the length of the flowering stems. The flowers emerge from a sessile spathe, the outer bract 2.5-4.5 cm long and the inner bract about ½ the length, with a pedicel that is exerted just beyond the spathe. The 6 tepals are up to 10 mm long, white to pale blue, sometimes having bluish stripes, rounded at the tip with a small, needle-like projection. The fruit is a rounded capsule, 3-6 mm in diameter. White-eyed grass blooms from April to June in prairies and open woods in eastern South Dakota.
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Juglandaceae : Juglans nigra
R. Neil Reese
Juglans nigra is a large tree with brown bark that grow to 25 m tall with a trunk up to 1 m in diameter in a forest stand. Individual specimens growing under ideal conditions can grow much larger. Young twigs are green and covered with glandular hairs. The alternate, compound palmate leaves grow to 50 cm long, the 11-23 leaflets are sessile, oblong lanceolate, pointed at the tip and usually with small teeth along the margins. The trees are monoecious, with green male flowers in catkins up to 12 cm long, each with about 4 sepals and 8-40 stamens. The female flowers are terminal on new growth in clusters of 1-several flowers, each with 3 small bracts and a hairy pistil with a short style and 2 yellow green stigmas. The fruit is a globose, yellow green turning brown nut, 5 cm in diameter, containing a nut 4 cm in diameter. Black walnut blooms in April and May. This species is native to the southeastern corner of South Dakota, but has been planted in windbreaks and yards state wide, becoming naturalized throughout the state.
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Lamiaceae: Agastache foeniculum
R. Neil Reese
Agastache foeniculum is a perennial rhizomatous herb, which grows 0.6 m to 1 m in height. The stems are square with opposite ovate to broad to lanceolate simple leaves, greenish above and whitish underneath due to fine, appressed hairs the leaf margins are finely toothed. When crushed the leaves smell of anise. Flowers open in July and August and are arranged in a terminal spike-like raceme. The tubular calyx is 5 toothed 5-7 mm long and lavender toward the tips. The corolla is 2-lipped 7-10 mm long and lavender to bluish-purple in color. Stamens 4 and exerted from corolla. Pistil with 2 carpels with a 2-part style. Fruit are 4 nutlets. Lavender hyssop blooms from June through September. This species is commonly found in upland woods and prairies in both eastern and western South Dakota.
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Lamiaceae : Mentha arvensis
R. Neil Reese
Mentha arvensis is an aromatic, perennial, rhizomatous herb with square, simple to branched, ascending to erect stems growing from 30-90 cm tall. The stems are usually hairy to nearly smooth with rings of hairs at the nodes. The simple, opposite leaf blades are lanceolate to ovate, 2.5-12 cm long and 5-40 mm wide, slightly small toward the top, with the upper surface generally without hairs and the lower surface with hairs along the veins. The margins are toothed with hairs along the edges and the petioles are 3-15 mm long. The inflorescence consist of paired 8-30 flowered cymes in the axils of leafy bracts. Each flower with a pedicel 1-3 mm long. The 5-lobed hairy calyx is tubular to bell-shaped, 2.5 -3.3 mm long, with teeth about ¼ length of the tube. The weakly bilabiate corolla is whitish to lavender in color, 4.5-6.5 mm long. The 4 stamens and the style are exerted from the corolla by 1-2 mm. the fruit are 4 nutlets. Field mint blooms from July into September in moist shaded sites, streambanks, lake shores and marshes throughout South Dakota.
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Lamiaceae: Monarda fistulosa
R. Neil Reese
Monarda fistulosa is an aromatic, rhizomatous perennial herb with simple to branched, square stems, 30-120 cm tall, the upper portions hairy. The simple, opposite leaves are petiolate (10-25 mm long). The blades are lanceolate to ovate, 2-5 cm long and 4-20 mm wide, with small glands, a pointed tip, and toothed to subentire margins. The inflorescence is a terminal cluster of flowers on the main stem and branch ends, 1-5 cm wide, excluding the corollas, and subtended by green to whitish bracts, 1-2.5 cm long. The calyx forms a hairy tube, 5.5-11 mm long with teeth up to 1.5 mm long. The pale to dark lavender (rarely white) bilabiate corolla is 2-3.5 cm long, the outer surface hairy, the tube at the base slender, 15-25 mm long, the upper lip erect and shorter than the tube, and the lower lip is spreading, 3-lobed. The stamens are exerted from the upper lip. The fruit are 4 brown to black nutlets, 1.5-2 mm long. Beebalm blooms from June into September on prairie hillsides, along roads and open woodlands in most of South Dakota.
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Liliaceae : Allium cernuum
R. Neil Reese
Allium cernuum is a perennial herb, which grows from a membranous bulb with stems 30 cm to 45 cm in height, that are usually bent just below the cluster of flowers. Each mature bulb typically bears a single flowering stem with up to 30 flowers. The leaves are keeled grass-like, flat or channeled and 2-4 mm wide. Flowers emerge from a membranous spathe in July and August, with the umbel nodding or laterally projected. The tepals are 3-5 mm long and white to pink in color. The 6 stamens are exerted from the tepals, and the ovary is prominently 6-crested. The fruit is a 3 valved capsule. This species is commonly found throughout much of Northern America in mountainous and cool regions, on ledges, gravels, rocky or wooded slopes and crests. Because of its wide distribution, it is variable in plant size, flower color and bloom time.
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Liliaceae: Allium stellatum
R. Neil Reese
Allium stellatum is a perennial herb, arising from a bulb as a leafless scape growing from 20 to 60 cm tall. The stem is surrounded by grass-like lanceolate basal leaves that are up to 30 long. The leaves die back as the rounded umbel of pink to purple flowers emerge at the end of the scape in late summer. The umbel is 5–8 cm across, and each of the flowers has 6 tepals that flare outward and are about 6 mm long. The stamens are exerted, and the pistil has 6 locules. The fruit is a capsule with usually 1 seed per locule. This species is commonly found on prairies and hillsides.
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Liliaceae : Allium textile
R. Neil Reese
Allium textile is a perennial herb coming from an underground egg-shaped bulb that is up to 2.5 cm long. This onion is shorter than the other common onions growing in South Dakota, often having multiple stems coming from a single bulb which grow from 10 to 30 cm in height. The stems are often curved or twisted in appearance. The plant has 1 or 2 flat grass-like leaves that are (2) 1-3 mm wide, alternately attached near the base, sheathing the stem, and may appear to be basal. Allium textile has numerous flowers arranged in a compact umbel and bloom from May to June.. The tepals are white to rarely pink in color, 5-7 mm long. The stamens are not exerted from the tepals as with the other common onions of the region. The fruit is a capsule. This species is commonly found throughout the state in mixed grass prairies, sagebrush steppes, meadows, open pine forests, and clearings.
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Liliaceae : Calochortus nuttallii
R. Neil Reese
Calochortus nuttallii is a perennial herb growing from a membranous coated bulb, 14-44 cm in height. The 2-4, simple, alternate leaves are linear, 8-16 cm long and 1-2 mm wide, reduced in length toward the top. The inflorescence is a single terminal flower {occasionally 2-3), white with a yellow base, the outer whorl of tepals (sepals) are lanceolate, 20-33 mm long and 4-8 mm wide. The inner 3 tepals are obovate with a narrow base, 30-45 mm long and 27-38 mm wide, with a round gland surrounded by a fringed membrane covered with simple and/or branched hairs. The 6 stamens have filaments 5-8 mm long and anthers 5-10 mm long. The fruit is a linear-lanceolate, dehiscent capsule, 3-5 cm long. Sego lilies bloom in June and July on dry prairies and open woods in western South Dakota.
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Liliaceae : Hypoxis hirsuta
R. Neil Reese
Hypoxis hirsute is a perennial herb growing from a rounded, membranous coated corm. There is a rosette of 3-6 basal, linear leaves, 5-26 cm long and 2-12 mm wide, green with scattered white hairs. The plants produce one to several slender flowering stems (scapes), up to 20 cm tall, each with a 2-14 flowers in a terminal umbel. The flowers have 6 yellow tepals, 6-14 mm long and 2-6.5 mm wide, with hairs on the outer surfaces. There are 6 stamens, the filaments 2-3 mm long and the anthers 2-4 mm long. The ovary is inferior and hairy. The fruit is a hairy, ovoid capsule. Yellow stargrass blooms from April into July on prairies and in open deciduous woodlands in eastern South Dakota.
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Liliaceae : Maianthemum racemosum
R. Neil Reese
Maianthemum racemosum is a perennial herb from a whitish rhizome with simple, erect stems growing 35-80 cm tall. The simple, alternate, lanceolate to elliptical leaves are 2-ranked, 6-15 cm long and 2-7 cm wide. The leaves are sessile or with a short petiole, have a rounded bases, a pointed tips, and entire margins, with prominent veins running the length of the leaves. The inflorescence is a many-flowered panicle. The flowers have 6, white tepals, 1-4 mm long and 6 stamens that are longer than the tepals. The fruit is a green to red to purple berry, 4-6 mm in diameter. False Solomon’s Seal blooms from April into July in moist woodlands and thickets in the eastern and western border counties of South Dakota.
Synonym: Smilacina racemosa
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Liliaceae : Maianthemum stellatum
R. Neil Reese
Maianthemum stellatum is a perennial herb from a whitish rhizome with simple, erect stems growing 15-65 cm tall. The simple, alternate, lanceolate to oblong leaves are 2-ranked, 4-16 cm long and 1-4 cm wide. The leaves are sessile, folded, have pointed tips, and entire margins, with a prominent central vein. The inflorescence is a raceme, sessile or with a short peduncle. The flowers have 6, creamy white to greenish white tepals, 4-7 mm long and 6 stamens are 2-5 mm long, shorter than the perianth. The fruit is a berry, 7-9 mm in diameter, initially light green with blue stripes and turns dark blue purple as it ages. Starry false Solomon’s Seal blooms in May and June in moist to dry woodlands, along streams and rivers throughout much of South Dakota.
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Liliaceae : Trillium cernuum
R. Neil Reese
Trillium cernuum is a perennial herb from a short rhizome, the stem 30-50 cm tall, topped with a whorl of 3 terminal leaves. The simple, leaves are rhombic-obovate, 6-12 cm long and wide, with a petiole-like base and usually have a sharp tip. The flowers hang beneath the leaves on peduncles 3-4 cm long. The 3 green sepals are broadly lanceolate, 1.5-2 cm long. The 3 white petals are oval to obovate and 1-3 cm long. The 6 stamens have anthers and filaments that are each 4-5 mm long. The fruit is a berry, about 3 cm in diameter, that starts out white and ripens to a deep red. Nodding trillium blooms in June and July in the moist deciduous woods along the coteau des prairies in eastern South Dakota.
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Liliaceae : Uvularia grandiflora
R. Neil Reese
Uvularia grandiflora is a perennial herb growing from a rhizome and thickened fibrous roots, with simple to occasionally branched stems, 35-70 cm tall. The simple, alternate, ovate oblong to elliptic leaves are 6-12 cm long and 2-6 cm wide, smooth on top and hairy below. The leaf margins are entire and membranous. The solitary flowers are terminal and drooping. There are 6 yellow tepals that appear twisted, 2.5-4.5 cm long, the tips pointed, with 2mm diameter nectaries toward the base. The 6 stamens are shorter than the petals. The fruit is a 3-lobed capsule containing several rounded seeds. Large bellwort blooms in April and May in moist woodlands along the eastern edge of South Dakota.
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Liliaceae : Zigadenus elegans
R. Neil Reese
Zigadenus elegans is a perennial herb from a deep, truncated, fibrous coated bulb, with stems growing 10-70 cm in height. The simple, alternate leaves are linear, 10-35 cm long and 2-10 mm wide, with roughened margins. The basal leaves are folded and the cauline leaves flat. The inflorescence is a raceme (rarely a panicle) with few to numerous flowers. The 6 greenish white tepals are oval to obovate, 6-8 mm long with a 2-lobed dark green gland toward the base. The 6 stamens arise from the base of the partially inferior ovary. The fruit is a capsule 15-20 mm long. Death camass blooms from June into August in the plains, prairies and open conifer forests in counties along the eastern and western edges of South Dakota.
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Linaceae : Linum lewisii var. lewisii
R. Neil Reese
Linum lewisii var. lewisii is a perennial with stems branching at the base and growing 20 to 80 cm in height. The simple, linear to linear lanceolate leaves are 1-3 cm long, alternate above and crowded on the lower portions of the stem where they can appearing whorled. The leaf margins are entire and the apex is pointed. The inflorescence is a panicle with few branches and spreading pedicels. The 5 sepals are green and 3.5-5 mm long. The 5 petals are blue (occasionally white), 10-15 mm long, with the stamens opposite them. The fruit is an ovoid capsule, 5-7 mm long, that separates into 10 segments. Prairie flax blooms from May into August in prairies and on open wooded hillsides in the eastern and western border counties of South Dakota.
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Loasaceae : Mentzelia decapetala
R. Neil Reese
Mentzelia decapetala is a coarse, erect, shrubby looking, biennial to weakly perennial herb growing up to 1 m tall. There are 1 to several stems that branched above, and the lower stems develop a whitish, exfoliating bark. The leaves are alternate, fleshy, lanceolate, 4-15 cm long, 1.5-4 cm wide, pinnatifid with wavy lobes, the lower leaves petiolate and the upper sessile. The flowers are solitary or in small clusters at the ends of branches. The 5 sepals are 1-5 cm long with pointed tips, and the 10 petals are white to cream colored, 5-7 cm long and 1-2 cm wide, oblanceolate to spatulate and often overlapping. There are numerous stamens that are shorter than the petals and form a yellow center in the opened flower. When open, the petals create a showy display, each flower up to 15 in diameter. The flowers open in late afternoon and close around midnight. The fruit is a cylindrical capsule 3-5 cm long and 1,5-2 cm wide with numerous, flattened, minutely winged seeds. Ten-petal blazingstar blooms from July into September along roadsides, and other disturbed places, including the Missouri River drainage, scattered throughout South Dakota.
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Malvaceae : Sphaeralcea coccinea
R. Neil Reese
Sphaeralcea coccinea is a deep-rooted perennial herb with 1 or more decumbent to ascending stems growing from a woody caudex, reaching up to 50 cm in length, and usually covered with small hairs. The alternate, petiolate leaves are covered with hairs, irregularly divided 3-5 times, with the lobes divided again or merely toothed. The leaf blade’s overall outline is 1-6 cm long and about as wide or even wider, with the final narrow segments being oblong to oblanceolate. The inflorescence is a raceme, 2-11 cm long, and usually without subtending bracts. The flowers have short pedicels, a tubular calyx 3-10 mm long with 5 lobes that are equal to or longer than the tube. The 5 deep orange to brick red petals are 1-2 cm long and notched. There are numerous stamens, fused at the base, and 10 or more carpels, 3-3.5 mm tall, with stellate hairs at maturity. The fruit is a schizocarp. Scarlet globemallow blooms from April into August on dry prairies, plains and on hillsides in much of South Dakota.
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Onagraceae : Calylophus serrulatus
R. Neil Reese
Calylophus serrulatus is a perennial herb with few to many simple to branched, decumbent to erect stems, 5-80 cm long. The simple, alternate leaves are linear to lanceolate, 1-10 cm long and 1-12 mm wide, smooth to slightly hairy on top and generally hairy on the under surface. The blades are sessile to semipetiolate, the leaf tapering to the base and having a pointe tip, with margins that are entire to toothed. The 4-merous flowers are axillary in the upper parts of the stems. The sepals are 1.5-9 mm long and 2-6 mm wide, distinctly keeled, hairy below, with free tips 1-4 mm long. The 4 yellow petals are 5-20 mm long and about as wide. There are 2 series of stamens, one attached to the sepals and the other the petals, the former longer than the latter, and the stigma is ~2 mm wide in the center of the flower. The fruit is a capsule, 10-30 mm long and 1-3 mm wide. Yellow sundrops bloom from May into September on roadsides in rocky to sandy prairies and open woodlands in much of South Dakota.
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Onagraceae : Chamerion angustifolium ssp. circumvagum
R. Neil Reese
Chamerion angustifolium ssp. circumvagum is a stout, erect perennial herb with simple to branched, red stems growing up to 3 m tall, that are smooth to occasionally having short, stiff hairs toward the top. This plant has an large root system, producing extensive colonies by forming shoots on lateral roots. The alternate leaves are lanceolate, with an acute tip, 2-20 cm long and 4-35 mm wide and arranged in a spiral. The leaves are sessile or nearly so, with a strong midvein and margins that are usually wavey. The inflorescence is a terminal many-flowered raceme. The slightly irregular flowers are drooping in the bud, the 4 spreading, green to purple sepals are lanceolate, 7-16 mm long and less than 3 mm wide. The 4 pink to magenta petals are obovate, tapering to a short claw, 10-20 mm long and 6-11 mm wide, usually with a notch. There are 8 slightly unequal stamens surrounding a pistil with a densely white haired ovary 8-18 mm long atop of a pedicel 4-12 mm long, with a white to purplish style, 10-20 mm long, with a ring of hairs at its base and topped by a 4-lobed stigma. The fruit is a capsule 4-10 cm long on a pedicel up to 2.5 cm long, containing may long-haired seeds. Fireweed blooms from June through September in open woodlands and disturbed areas, especially after fires in western South Dakota.
Synonyms: Epilobium angustifolium, Chamaenerion angustifolium
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Onagraceae : Oenothera biennis
R. Neil Reese
Oenothera biennis is a biennial herb with greenish, erect branching stems 50-200 cm tall, often covered with hairs. The first year plants form rosettes of petiolate leaves, oblanceolate to spatulate, 6-30 cm long, 1-7 cm wide, with an entire to wavey margin and pointed tips. The second year the stems elongate and the cauline leaves are alternate, lanceolate to oblanceolate, 1-10 cm long and 4-20 mm wide with wavey to sparsely toothed margins and pointed tips. The lower stem leaves petiolate, becoming reduced in size and sessile toward the top. The inflorescence is a terminal spike, sometimes with branches, the flowers subtended by hair covered bracts 1-3 cm long. The flower buds are erect and open near sunset. The slender, greenish yellow floral tube is is 2-5 cm in length, with a scattering of hairs. The 4 linear-lanceolate sepals are 1-2.5 cm long with free lobes 1-4 mm long. The 4 yellow obovate petals are 1-2.5 cm long, notched, and become reddish before wilting. There are 8 yellow stamens surrounding a style with a cross-shaped stigma in the center. The fruit is an ascending, hairy, cylindrical capsule, 1.5-3.5 cm long and 3-6 mm in diameter. Common evening primrose blooms From July into October along streams and lakeshores, open woodlands and waste places scattered throughout South Dakota.