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  Asteraceae: Centaurea stoebe

  R. Neil Reese

  Centaurea stoebe is a biennial or short-lived perennial forb in the Asteraceae family. It grows from a deep, stout taproot. Plants form a basal rosette of deeply divided, grayish-green leaves in the first year, with leaves 5–25 cm long, narrow and deeply pinnately lobed with irregular, toothed margins, giving them a somewhat fern-like appearance. In the second year, one or more erect, branched stems arise from the rosette, typically 40–120 cm tall; stems are slender, rough to the touch, and covered with short, stiff hairs. Cauline leaves are smaller, linear or narrowly lanceolate, becoming progressively smaller and simpler in shape, often lanceolate or narrowly elliptic, and less deeply lobed or sometimes nearly entire, typically ranging from 3 to 7 cm in length. Leaf surface texture is mostly sparsely hairy with a rough feel. Flowering occurs from June to September. Inflorescences are solitary or in loose clusters at the ends of stems, each composed of a single flower head (capitulum) atop a short stalk. Each head is 1–2 cm across, containing numerous tubular disc florets that are pink to purple in color. Each floret has a five-lobed corolla, with lobes that are slightly spreading, presenting a somewhat thistle-like appearance. The involucre surrounding the flower head is characterized by several layers of overlapping bracts, which are brownish to black with distinctive dark, purplish to black tips, often spotted, and fringed with fine hairs that give a "spotted" look—a key trait for species identification. These bracts typically measure about 1.5 to 2.5 cm long. Fruits are small, brown, ribbed achenes (2–3 mm) with a short, fringed pappus, maturing from late summer into fall. Spotted knapweed is an introduced species classified as a noxious weed in South Dakota, commonly invading roadsides, rangelands, pastures, fields, gravelly or sandy soils, and

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  Asteraceae : Cirsium drummondii

  R. Neil Reese

  Cirsium drummondii is a biennial or perennial herb growing to 110 cm tall and blooming only once before dying. The plants are stout-stemmed and unbranched. The alternate leaves are oblanceolate, 8-25 cm long and 1.5-6.5 cm wide., with a spinose margin. The lower leaves are larger and more numerous toward the base, ascending and the upper leaves are deeply divided with the segments triangular in shape. The inflorescence is a terminal head (occasionally 2-3), about 7 cm in diameter with an involucre of 4-7 rows of bracts, 2-3.5 cm long, the outer 2 rows purplish and spine tipped. Ray flowers are lacking, with disk flowers rose purple in color and 38-44 mm long and the style is exerted. The achenes are straw colored with purplish streaks and a yellowish rim 4-5.5 mm long and < 2 mm wide with a bristly pappus 30-40 mm long. Drummond’s thistle blooms from June to early August in moist meadows, pine woodlands and along roadsides only in the Black Hills of Wyoming and South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae: Cirsium flodmanii

  R Neil Reese

  Cirsium flodmanii is a perennial, deeply taprooted herb with simple stems 30-100 cm tall, branching in the upper portions and covered in cobwebby and wooly white hairs. The plants form colonies by development of buds on the lateral roots. The lower leaf surfaces are covered in grayish wooly hairs. The upper leaf surfaces have a much reduced covering of hairs, making them appear green, and are free of spines. The basal leaves start out nearly entire and are replaced by lobed leaves as the plant matures. The cauline leaves are alternate, petiolate, the blades lanceolate to obovate, 5–20 cm long, 3-7 cm wide, undulate, deeply pinnately lobed to subentire and the margins are irregularly spinose. The leaves are larger at the bottom and become sessile and reduced in size upward. The terminal solitary heads have an involucre, 2-3 cm long, 1.5-2.5 cm wide, of 6-7 rows of bracts, each 5-9 mm long and about 3 mm wide with a prominent dorsal ridge and a spine tip, 2-4 mm long. The heads have only disc flowers, the corolla is purple to pink, 21-36 mm long with 5 lobes 5-9 mm long. the style is exerted from the corolla tube. The fruit is a brownish achene, 4-5 mm long and about 2 mm wide, with a pappus of 2-3 cm long hairs. Flodman’s thistle blooms from July into September in moist meadows, pastures and open sites throughout South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae : Conyza canadensis

  R. Neil Reese

  Conyza canadensis is an annual, herbaceous plant growing from 0.3 10 to 1.5 m tall, mostly simple or branching above if injured, with sparsely hairy stems. The simple, alternate leaves are sessile, narrowly oblanceolate to linear 2–10 cm long and generally <1 cm>wide, with entire to coarsely toothed margins. The leaves grow in a spiral up the stem and the lower ones often wither early. The inflorescence is a terminal cluster of flower heads 1 cm in diameter, with an involucre, of overlapping bracts, that is 3-4 mm long and green. Twenty to 30 ray flowers with white to pale purple ligules and a few yellow disc florets in the center. The fruit are hairy achenes with an abundant pappus. Horseweed is a weed in open cultivated and disturbed ground flowering from June through September throughout South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae: Coreopsis tinctoria

  R. Neil Reese

  Coreopsis tinctoria is an annual herb with a fibrous root system. Stems are erect, slender, branched, and typically 30–90 cm tall, with a sparse covering of fine hairs. Leaves are opposite to alternate, highly variable, simple to pinnately divided, linear to lanceolate, leaflets 1–4 cm long and 1–5 mm wide, with entire or slightly toothed margins; both basal and cauline leaves are present. Basal leaves tend to be larger and more deeply lobed, while upper leaves are smaller and simpler, but basal leaves are often lost by flowering. Flowering occurs from June to September. The inflorescences are terminal and bear large, solitary flower heads (capitula) about 3–5 cm across. Each flower head is composed of bright yellow ray florets each approximately 15–30 mm long and 5–10 mm wide, with red to maroon centers. The central disc florets that are deep maroon to purple, tubular, about 5–7 mm long, and very numerous, creating a dense, contrasting center. Flowers are bisexual, with 5 fused petals in ray florets and tubular disc florets with 5 lobes, multiple stamens, and a single pistil. Fruit is an achene, brown to black, about 3–4 mm long, maturing in late summer. Plains coreopsis is native to South Dakota and thrives in open prairies, roadsides, disturbed areas, and dry upland soils, distributed statewide but more abundant in the eastern and central regions.

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  Asteraceae: Dyssodia papposa

  R Neil Reese

  Dyssodia papposa is an erect to spreading, diffusely branching, annual herb,10-50 cm tall. The leaves are opposite near the base and alternate above, 1.5-5 cm long, pinnately parted and irregularly dotted with oil glands. The inflorescence consists of solitary heads arising singly from leaf axils and at the tips of branches heads, on very short peduncles, surrounded by a cylindrical to bell-shaped involucre, 6-10 mm long, with 6-12 principle bracts, free with several oil glands and several greenish orange to purplish shorter inside bracts. There are 8 or fewer ray yellow flowers with short ligules surrounding few to many dull yellow disk flowers. The fruit are stout, hairy achenes, 3-3.5 mm long with a pappus of about 20 scales, each with 5-10 bristles on the upper section. Fetid marigold blooms from July into September in open fields and disturbed areas of southern and western South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae : Echinacea angustifolia

  R. Neil Reese

  Echinacea angustifolia is a perennial herb with simple to branched stems which grow 10-60 cm in height. The stems are usually hairy, especially towards the top. The leaves are simple, alternate the margins entire and have 3-5 strong nerves running lengthwise. The lower leaves are petiolate, 5-30 cm long and 1-4 cm wide. The upper leaves becoming sessile and progressively smaller. The inflorescence consists of 1 or more heads, about 1.5 cm across, on long peduncles. The involucral bracts are 6-11 mm long and the conical receptacle 1.5-3 cm tall. The ray flowers have pink to light pink ligules 2-4 cm long and the disk flowers have a purplish corolla 6-8 mm long. The achenes are 4-5 kk long with a papery pappus that looks like a toothed crown. Echinacea angustifolia bloom from June to July on open rocky plains and prairies throughout South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae : Ericameria nauseosa

  R. Neil Reese

  Ericameria nauseosa is a woody perennial shrub 0.5-3 m tall, having a woody base and gray green younger branches with a dense covering of appressed hairs that can look like bark until one lightly scrapes the surface. The smooth to somewhat hairy leaves are alternate, sessile or nearly so, linear to narrowly linear lanceolate, 2-6 cm long and 1-2 mm wide and marked by 1 t0 3 nerves. The inflorescence is a series of rounded terminal compound cymose clusters of heads. The pungent-smelling heads are surrounded by 20-25 bracts in vertical ranks 6-8 mm tall and contain 5 yellow disk flowers. The corolla is 6-9 mm long with 5 lobes up to 2 mm in length. The fruit are 5-angled achenes about 5 mm in length with a pappus of numerous bristles. Rubber Rabbitbrush blooms from August to October on hills and high plains predominantly in western South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae: Erigeron canadensis

  R. Neil Reese

  Erigeron canadensis is a fast-growing, annual or short-lived perennial herb growing from a fibrous root system, with slender stems that are typically 30 to 150 tall, erect, branched, and often sparsely hairy to nearly glabrous. Leaves are alternate, narrowly lanceolate to linear, measuring 2 to 10 cm long and 0.5 to 1.5 cm wide, with short petioles or sessile bases and finely serrate to entire margins. Flowering occurs from late summer to fall (July–October), producing open, branching panicles of numerous small flower heads . Each flower head is about 1–2 cm across, with 40–100 white to pale lavender ray florets, 2 to 4 mm long, surrounding yellow disc florets. Flowers are bisexual, with five-lobed corollas, 5 stamens fused by their anthers into a tube surrounding the style, and a single pistil with a slender style bifurcated at the tip into two slender, elongated stigmatic branches. The involucre is composed of several series (3 to 4 rows) of narrow, greenish to pale bracts (phyllaries) that are lanceolate and often slightly membranous with finely fringed or ciliate margins, forming a cup-shaped structure surrounding the base of the composite flower head. The fruit is a small, ribbed achene about 1 to 2 millimeters long with a pappus of fine bristles aiding wind dispersal. Seeds mature in early fall. Canadian horseweed is native to North America and widespread throughout South Dakota, commonly found in disturbed sites, roadsides, fields, and open areas.

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  Asteraceae: Erigeron divergens

  R Neil Reese

  Erigeron divergens is annual to weakly perennial herb with erect stems, 10–40 cm long, often branched at the base from a simple caudex, the stems covered with short stiff and/or glandular hairs. . Leaves are alternate and mostly basal, linear to narrowly lanceolate or spatulate, measuring 2 to 7 cm long and 3 to 12 mm wide, with petioles from sessile up to 2 cm, margins are entire to slightly toothed. These leaves are usually deciduous by flowering. The simple, cauline leaves are reduced in size, linear to lanceolate, and tapering; leaves often have a silvery or bluish-green hue due to fine hairs. Flowering occurs from late spring through fall (May–September). Inflorescences consist of clusters or solitary flower heads with both ray and disc florets. Flowers are bisexual. Each flower head contains 70 – 150 ray flowers with blue to pink to white ligules, 5-10 mm long and numerous yellow disk flowers, 2–3 mm long. These florets have tubular corollas with five lobes, stamens form a tube around the ovary, and there is a single pistil with bifid style tip. The involucre is composed of several (3 to 5) series of overlapping greenish to reddish, narrow, lanceolate bracts (phyllaries) with membranous margins, a brown midvein, and often with fine hairs, forming a bell-shaped to cup-shaped structure surrounding the flower base. The fruit are achenes about 1 mm long. Spreading fleabane is native to South Dakota, found in dry prairies, open woodlands, rocky slopes, and disturbed sites, widely distributed but most common in western and central parts of the state.

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  Asteraceae: Erigeron flagellaris

  R. Neil Reese

  Erigeron flagellaris is a low, mat-forming perennial herb growing from a fibrous root system and spreads asexually by slender, trailing stolons or “whips,” which root at nodes to form new plants. Stems are slender, prostrate to ascending, typically 5–15 cm tall but spreading laterally much farther. Leaves are alternate, narrow, linear to lanceolate, 1–4 cm long and 1–3 mm wide, mostly basal or along the lower stem, with smooth margins and a somewhat rough texture and covered with fine hairs giving a gray-green appearance. The few cauline leaves that are present are smaller, and scale-like. Flowering occurs in spring and summer (April–July). Each flower head is about 1–1.5 cm wide, with 15–35 narrow white to pale lavender ray florets surrounding numerous yellow disc florets. The ray flowers are strap-shaped, about 5–8 mm long and 1–2 mm wide. Disc flowers are tubular, bright yellow, and fertile with five stamens fused into a tube around the style. The style ends in two slender, slightly hairy stigmatic branches. The involucre phyllaries are narrow, lanceolate, measuring about 5–10 mm long, with pointed tips and somewhat hairy. The fruit is a small achene with a pappus of fine bristles for wind dispersal, maturing in early summer. Whip fleabane is native to South Dakota, growing in dry open woods, rocky slopes, grasslands, and sandy soils, especially in western and central regions.

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  Asteraceae: Erigeron philadelphicus

  R. Neil Reese

  Erigeron philadelphicus is a perennial herb that typically grows 30–90 cm tall with erect, slender stems that may be branched or unbranched and are covered with fine hairs (pubescent). The plant has a fibrous root system and may spread by short rhizomes. Leaves are alternate and simple, ranging from lanceolate to ovate, 5–15 cm long, with coarsely smooth to toothed margins and a rough texture. Both basal and cauline leaves are present, basal leaves forming a rosette early in the season and often dwindling by flowering time. Basal and lower leaves have petioles, while upper leaves may clasp the stem. Flowering occurs from late spring to early fall (May–September). Inflorescences are composed of multiple small, daisy-like flower heads arranged in loose clusters or panicles. Each flower head is about 1–2 cm across and contains 40–70 narrow white to pale pink ray florets surrounding numerous bright yellow disc florets. The ligule phyllaries are arranged in 2–3 overlapping series, broadly lanceolate to ovate, about 7–12 mm long, with pointed tips and a slightly hairy texture. The ray flowers are strap-shaped, about 7–12 mm long and 1.5–3 mm wide, mostly sterile or female, serving to attract pollinators. The disc flowers are tubular, perfect (bisexual), 2.5 to 4 millimeters in length. The corolla tube of each disc floret has five distinct lobes that spread slightly as the flower matures, forming a small, open star-shaped mouth, with five stamens fused by their anthers into a tube around the style. The style extends through the anther tube, its tip divides into two slender, slightly hairy stigmatic branches. The fruit is a small achene with a fluffy pappus allowing wind dispersal, maturing in late summer. Philadelphia fleabane is native to South Dakota and common in open woods, meadows, roadsides, and disturbed sites statewide.

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  Asteraceae : Erigeron pumilis

  R. Neil Reese

  Erigeron pumilus is a taprooted perennial with a simple to branched caudex with ascending to erect stems, 5–30 cm tall covered with long, spreading hairs, many of which are glandular toward the top. The basal and alternate cauline leaves are simple, entire, the blades are linear- to narrowly oblanceolate, 15–80 mm long and up to 8 mm wide. The inflorescence is a cluster of heads (1-many) that are 7-15 mm in diameter. The involucre is 4–8 mm high, the bracts in 2 to 4 series, with minutely glandular hairs and a brownish midvein. Each head has 50–100 white to pinkish (occasionally bluish) ray flowers, the ligules 5–12 mm long. Corollas of the disk flowers are yellow and 2–5 mm long. Achenes are 1–2 mm long with a pappus of 2 rows of bristles. Shaggy fleabane blooms from June into August on dry high plains and prairies predominantly in west river South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae: Erigeron speciosus var. macranthus

  R. Neil Reese

  Erigeron speciosus is a perennial herbaceous plant known for its showy, daisy-like flower heads. It typically grows 30–90 cm tall with erect, simple to branched, moderately hairy stems arising from a woody base or short rhizomes. Leaves are alternate, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 5–15 cm long and 1–5 cm wide, with smooth or slightly toothed margins and a rough texture. Lower leaves often have petioles, while upper leaves may clasp the stem.

  Flowering occurs from mid-summer to early fall (July–September). Inflorescences are composed of numerous large, showy flower heads with lavender to purple ray florets and yellow disc florets, arranged in loose clusters or solitary at stem tips. The involucre consists of a series of green to reddish-green overlapping bracts that are broadly lanceolate to ovate, 10–15 mm long, with pointed tips and a somewhat hairy or glandular texture. Each flower head contains 60–120 bright lavender to pale purple, occasionally white ray florets that are strap-shaped, about 12–18 mm long and 2–4 mm wide, mostly sterile or female, primarily serving to attract pollinators. The disc florets are tubular, perfect (bisexual), bright yellow, 3–4.5 mm in length. The corolla tube has five lobes that spread slightly as the flower matures. The five stamens are fused by their anthers into a tube surrounding the style. The style extends through the anther tube, the tip of the style divides into two slender, slightly hairy stigmatic branches. Fruit is a small achene with a pappus of many fine, white bristles and matures in late summer. Showy fleabane is native to South Dakota, occurring in montane meadows, open woods, and rocky slopes, mainly in western and central parts of the state.

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  Asteraceae : Eupatorium perfoliatum

  R. Neil Reese

  Eupatorium perfoliatum is a perennial herb arising from a rhizome, with stems, covered with hairs, that grow from 40 to 150 cm tall. The simple, opposite leaves clasp the stems. The blades are broad at the base and taper to a point at the tip, 7-20 cm long and up to 4 cm wide, with toothed margins and hairy lower sides. The inflorescence is made up of flat-topped clusters of heads. Each head has a 4-6 mm involucre of overlapping bracts in several series. There are 9-23 white disk flowers that produce 5-sided achenes that have a bristly pappus. Boneset blooms in August and September in damp prairies and bogs in the eastern edge of South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae: Eutrochium maculatum

  R Neil Reese

  Eutrochium maculatum is a perennial herb growing from 40 to 200 cm tall. The stems are variously purple spotted to completely purple. The simple leaves are in whorled in groups of 4 or 5, narrowly lanceolate to lance-ovate, usually with a short petiole. The blades are 6-15 cm long and 2-8 cm wide, with toothed margins. The inflorescence is a flat-topped cluster of heads with a 6-9 mm involucre of overlapping bracts. Each head contains 8-22 rose to purple disc flowers. Fruit are 5-sided achenes with a pappus of bristles. Spotted joe-pye weed blooms from July into September and is found in marshes, fens, swamps, ditches, and wet fields in eastern and western South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae: Gaillardia aristata

  R Neil Reese

  Gaillardia aristata is a perennial herb with 1 to several hairy stems, 30-60 cm tall from a taproot. The weakly petiolate leaves are basal and alternate on the stem, oblong to lanceolate-ovate, 5-15 cm long, up to 2.5 cm wide, with the margins various from entire to toothed to somewhat pinnately lobed. The inflorescence consists of solitary to a few heads on long peduncles with an involucre of 2-3 series of hairy, pointed bracts, 1-2 cm long and with bristly hairs on the receptacle that are longer than the achenes. The ray flowers have 3-parted ligules, yellow with a purplish base and 1-3 cm long. The disk flowers are purple to brownish purple, hairy toward the top, with a style that is exerted from the corolla. The fruit are achenes about 4 mm long and covered with long hairs. Blanketflower blooms from June into August on open plains and prairies of northeastern and western South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae : Helenium autumnale

  R. Neil Reese

  Helenium autumnale is a perennial herb with erect stems growing from 30 to 130 cm tall, often branched above. The simple alternate leaves are narrowed at the base and wrapping the stem, the blades lance-linear to almost ovate 4-15 cm long and up to 4 cm wide. The inflorescence is a cluster of heads in an open leafy cluster at the top of the plant. Each head is 1-2 cm in diameter with an involucre of 1- 2 rows of narrow bracts that bend downward. There are 10-20 ray yellow flowers surrounding a cluster of many yellow disk flowers on a domed receptacle. The fruit are achenes about 1.5 mm long with a scaley pappus. In August through October, one plant can produce as many as 100 yellow flower heads. Sneezeweed can be found on moist open slopes in South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae : Helianthus annuus

  R. Neil Reese

  Helianthus annuus is an annual, erect, coarse, tap-rooted plant with stems that are 0.6-3 m tall and rough-hairy. The lower-most leaves are opposite, but most of the leaves are alternate with a long petiole. The blades are ovate to triangular, 10-40 cm long and 5-20 cm wide, egg-shaped to triangular, with toothed to almost entire margins and 3 primary veins radiating from the base. There are 1- many heads in the inflorescence, with each flower head attached to a long peduncle at the end of a branch, the heads are 7.5-15 cm wide, and the involucre has several series of ovate bracts with a long abruptly tapered tip, that often have short hairs along their edges. The 10-40 ray flowers are yellow, the ligule 2.5+ cm long. The numerous disk flowers are reddish-brown to purple or rarely yellow. The achenes are 3-15 mm long. Common sunflowers bloom from July through September in open sites and disturbed areas throughout South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae : Helianthus maximilianii

  R. Neil Reese

  Helianthus maximiliani is a perennial herb growing from a stout, rhizomatous root. The generally unbranched stems occur singly or in loose clusters, growing from 0.5 m to 2.5 m tall, light green to purplish in color and covered with short, dense white hairs. The simple, mostly alternate leaves are lanceolate 7-30 cm long and 1-5 cm wide, very pointed and folded upward from the central vein, with slightly wavy entire to toothed margins. The leaf surfaces are covered with coarse white hairs. The inflorescence contains few to many heads, 2.5-7 cm in diameter, on peduncles that emerge from the leaf axils. Each head has an involucre of several series of bracts that exceed the disk, 15 to 25 yellow ray flowers, the ligules up to 4 cm long, and numerous greenish yellow to dark brown disc flowers. The fruit are achenes 3-4 mm long. Flowering occurs from August into October. Maximilian sunflowers occur on damp and open prairies, in waste grounds, often in sandy soils, throughout South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae : Helianthus tuberosus

  R. Neil Reese

  Helianthus tuberosus is a perennial herb, growing from a tuberous rhizome, reaching 1 m to 3 m in height. The simple, leaves are opposite at the base of the plant, becoming alternate toward the top. The blades are ovate to lanceolate, 10-25 cm long, 6-15 cm wide and tapered at the base, forming a winged petiole. The leaf margins are usually toothed, and the lower surface covered with short woolly hairs. The inflorescence is composed of several to numerous heads, each with a disk 1-3 cm in diameter. The involucral bracts are in several series and slightly exceeding the disk. There are 10-20 yellow ray flowers with ligules 2-4 cm long surrounding many yellow disk flowers. The achenes are 5-7 mm long and lack hairs. Jerusalem artichoke blooms from August into October on open or shaded moist sites throughout South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae : Heterotheca villosa

  R. Neil Reese

  Heterotheca villosa is a perennial herb with simple to branched sprawling to somewhat erectnstems, 10-50 cm long, arising singly or in clusters from a taproot. The upper stems are hairy with sessile or stalked resin glands. Leaves are simple, alternate and petiolate toward the base, becoming sessile toward the upper portions of the stems. The middle cauline leaves are oblanceolate, 1-3 cm long and 3-8 mm wide. The inflorescence is flat topped to paniculate with 3-30 heads coming from each branch, with each head surrounded by an involucre of 4-9 series of bracts with a total height of 7-12 mm. there are 20-30 ray flowers , the golden ligules 8-12 mm long and about as many yellow disk flowers, 5-8 mm long. The achenes have an outer scaley pappus and an inn bristly one. Golden aster blooms from July through September on sandy upland sites in both eastern and western South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae : Liatris aspera

  R. Neil Reese

  Liatris aspera is a perennial herb with 1 or more usually unbranched green or purplish stems arising from a thickened corm-like rootstock and growing 40-120 cm in height. The alternate, simple leaves are petiolate, narrow and blade-like with a prominent central vein and pointed tip, 5-40 cm long and 6 to 40 mm wide at the base of the stem, becoming smaller and sessile upward. The leaves are entire and have a rough texture from a covering of short stiff hairs. The inflorescence is an elongate and spikelike cluster of campanulate heads, 1.5-2.5 cm in diameter. The heads have an involucre of loosely spreading, greenish to purple bracts. The 25-40 flowers are all tubular, pink to purplish in color (occasionally white), star shaped and hairy within and the pappus is composed of finely barbed hairs. The achenes are 4-5 mm long with a pappus of long hairs. Rough blazing star blooms from July through September open slopes, prairies and meadowlands of eastern South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae : Liatris punctata

  R. Neil Reese

  Liatris punctata is a perennial herb with erect or slightly spreading stems arising singly or in clusters from a taproot-like rootstock and growing 10 to 80 cm in height. The numerous simple leaves are densely packed on the stem, very narrow and linear, up to 15 cm long and 5 mm wide near the base of the plant, becoming smaller toward the top. The leaves are entire, tend to point upward but may be more spiraling at the base of the plant. They are covered with resin dots (punctate) and have short white hairs around the margins. The inflorescence is a spike-like arrangement of cylindrical heads 1.5-2 cm tall with an involucre of narrow overlapping pointed bracts. The 4-8 pink to purple disk flowers are all tubular and star shaped, the inside covered with soft, thin hairs. Dotted-gayfeather blooms from July to October on dry prairies, native pastures and open uplands, especially on sandy soils, throughout South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae : Lygodesmia juncea

  R. Neil Reese

  Lygodesmia juncea is a perennial herb arising from a woody rhizome, growing from 10 cm to 70 cm in height and having a yellow milky sap. The mostly erect to ascending stems are green, stiff, hairless and much branched. The stems often have round 1 cm wide galls made by a solitary wasp. These are few leaves, the lower ones are entire, linear to linear lanceolate, less than 4 cm long and 3 mm wide and pointed at the tip. The upper leaves become smaller as they ascend the stem and are reduced to scales in the upper plant. There are numerous heads, each single at the end of a branch. The involucre is cylindrical, about 1.5 cm tall, the green bracts in 2 series, the outer short and unequal in length, the inner long and narrow. Each head has 5 pink to lavender, sometimes whitish ray flowers, the ligule is 10-12 mm long with 5 small teeth at the tip. The fruit are cylindrical achenes 6-10 mm long with a tuft of white to light brown hairs. Rush skeletonweed is commonly found from low to mid elevations throughout South Dakota, in dry grasslands, sagebrush steppes, and open pine woodlands, often on disturbed sites. Lygodesmia juncea blooms from June to August.