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  Asteraceae: Heliopsis helianthoides

  R. Neil Reese

  Heliopsis helianthoides is a perennial herbaceous plant that grows from a fibrous root system with creeping rhizomes that form dense clumps or colonies over time. The stems are erect, branching and typically reach 60 to 150 cm tall. Leaves are opposite or alternate, ovate to lanceolate, measuring 7 to 15 cm long and 3 to 7 cm wide. The leaf margins are serrated with coarse teeth, and the surface is rough to the touch. Leaves have pointed tips and tapering bases, attaching via short petioles. The plant has a bushy habit. Flowering occurs from mid to late summer (July–September). Inflorescences consist of bright yellow, daisy-like flower heads about 4–7 cm across. Each flower head is surrounded by several series of green, lanceolate to ovate involucral bracts about 10 to 15 mm long, often with fine hairs. The ray florets number about 10 to 20, with petals that are oblong to spatulate, measuring 2.5 to 4 cm long and 5 to 10 mm wide, with smooth edges. Disc florets are tubular, perfect (bisexual), about 3 to 5 mm long, with five lobes at the corolla tip. Stamens are fused into a tube around the style, which divides into two stigmatic branches. The fruit is a small, dry achene, 3 to 4 mm long, with no pappus or with a pappus of short hairs, that matures in late summer. Smooth oxeye is native to South Dakota and commonly found in prairies, open woodlands, and along roadsides and disturbed sites across the state.

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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: Leucanthemum vulgare

  R. Neil Reese

  Leucanthemum vulgare is a perennial herbaceous plant typically growing 20 to 80 cm tall. It has a fibrous root system with short rhizomes. The stems are erect and glabrous to sparsely hairy. Leaves are alternate and simple, with the basal leaves being spatulate to ovate-lanceolate, measuring about 5 to 15 cm long and 1 to 4 cm wide, and the upper stem leaves becoming smaller and more lance-shaped. Leaf margins are irregularly toothed or lobed, and the surfaces are mostly smooth. Leaves are sessile or have very short petioles, usually less than 1 cm. The inflorescence is a solitary flower head (capitulum) borne on a long peduncle, flowering from late spring through summer (May–August). The flower heads are 3 to 6 cm in diameter, composed of numerous white ray florets approximately 15 to 25 mm long and 4 to 7 mm wide surrounding a central disc of yellow tubular disc florets about 5 to 8 mm long. The flower head is subtended by several rows of green to straw-colored bracts (involucre) that are lanceolate to ovate and typically 10 to 20 mm long. The fruit is a small achene about 2 to 3 mm long. In South Dakota. Oxeye daisy is native to Europe but widely naturalized and considered invasive in South Dakota. It is commonly found in disturbed prairies, grasslands, meadows, roadsides, and disturbed sites.

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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.

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  Asteraceae : Machaeranthera pinnatifida

  R. Neil Reese

  Machaeranthera pinnatifida is an evergreen, perennial herb usually with numerous, ascending to erect stems, branched above, reaching 5-40 cm in height, with at least the upper 1/3 covered with minutely glandular and short wooly hairs. The simple alternate leaves are oblong to linear subspatulate, 1–6 cm long and 2-10 mm wide, toothed with bristle-tipped teeth or deeply pinnate lobes that are linear and spine-tipped. Inflorescence is a flat-topped cluster of heads, each solitary on a branch tip. Heads are radiate with a hemispheric involucre 6–9 mm long with 5 or 6 series of bracts that are hairy and sticky to the touch, the outer ones green and the inner ones whitish. There are 14 to 60, yellow ray flowers with ligules 4–10 mm long, and 30 to 150 disk flowers with yellow corollas 4–6 mm long. Achenes are about 2 mm long. Spiny goldaster blooms from May through September on open prairies and plains throughout South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae: Microseris nutans

  R. Neil Reese

  Microseris nutans is a perennial herbaceous plant typically growing 10 to 50 cm tall. It has a deep taproot and a basal rosette of leaves. The leaves are simple, variable in shape but generally lanceolate to oblong, often with irregularly toothed or lobed margins, measuring about 5 to 20 cm long and 1 to 4 cm wide. Leaf surfaces are smooth or slightly hairy, and they are borne on short petioles or sessile. The flowering stalk is leafless, 15–60 cm tall and bears a solitary flower head (capitulum) that nods or droops before opening, hence the name "nodding." Flowering occurs from late spring to midsummer (May–July). The flower head is about 2 to 4 cm in diameter, composed of numerous yellow ray florets that are strap-shaped and typically 15 to 30 mm long. The involucre consists of several series of green to reddish bracts that are lanceolate to ovate and 10 to 20 mm long. The fruit is a small achene with a pappus of fine bristles. Nodding Microseris is native to parts of western North America, including South Dakota, typically found in grasslands, open woods, and rocky slopes, especially in the western and Black Hills regions.

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  Asteraceae: Nabalus racemosus

  R. Neil Reese

  Nabalus racemosus is a perennial herbaceous plant native to North America. It typically grows 30 to 90 cm tall and emerges from a thick, fleshy, and sometimes branched rootstock. The stems are erect and slender, often branching near the top. The leaves are alternate and mostly basal, becoming smaller and more lanceolate up the stem. Basal leaves can be large, up to 20 cm long, with toothed or lobed margins, while upper stem leaves tend to be narrower and simpler. The surfaces range from smooth to slightly hairy. Flowering occurs from late summer to fall (August to October). The inflorescence is a loose, elongated raceme or panicle of numerous small flower heads, each about 1 to 1.5 cm in diameter. Each flower head consists of white to pale lavender ray florets surrounding yellow disc florets. The ray florets are strap-shaped 10 to 15 mm in length and 2 to 3 mm in width. The disc florets are fertile, 4 to 6 mm long and 1 to 1.5 mm wide, tubular, narrow and cylindrical, with five tiny lobes at the mouth of the opening. The involucre bracts are green, lanceolate, and measure about 5 to 8 mm long, forming a cup around the flower head. Fruits are small achenes, 3 to 5 mm in length, with a pappus of fine bristles, 5 to 7 mm long. White rattlesnake root is native to South Dakota, typically found in moist woodlands, forest edges, and shaded ravines, particularly in the eastern and southeastern parts of the state.

  Synonym: Prenanthes racemosa

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  Asteraceae : Packera cana

  R. Neil Reese

  Packera cana is a perennial herb growing 10-30 cm tall, the stems and leaves densely covered with felt-like hairs giving them a silvery gray color. The leaves are simple and alternate. The rosette of basal leaves and the lowest cauline leaves have long petioles, the blade ovate to lanceolate, 2.5-5 cm long and 1-3 cm wide, with a blunt to rounded tip, and with margins that are entire to slightly toothed. The upper cauline leaves are much reduced. The is a corymbiform cyme with 6-15 heads. Each head has an involucre of 13-21 bracts measuring 5-6 mm in length. There are 8-13 ray flowers, the yellow ligules 7-10 mm long (occasionally absent), surrounding many yellow disk flowers, their corollas with 5 shallow teeth. The cylindrical achenes are about 2 mm long with a pappus of longer white hairs. Woolly groundsel blooms from May through July on open dry plains predominantly in western South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae: Packera plattensis

  R. Neil Reese

  Packera plattensis is a perennial herbaceous plant growing 20 to 60 cm tall with erect, unbranched or sparsely branched stems covered in fine hairs. It has a fibrous root system with a short, woody caudex at the base, from which multiple stems arise. The basal leaves are petiolate, with petioles 5 to 15 cm long, supporting ovate to lanceolate blades 5 to 12 cm long and 2 to 6 cm wide, often pinnately lobed with irregular teeth. Stem leaves are smaller and sessile or clasping. The inflorescence is a loose corymb of several flower heads blooming from May through July. Each flower head consists of 13 to 21 bright yellow ray florets, each 10 to 18 mm long and 3 to 5 mm wide, surrounding numerous tubular disc florets. The involucre has 2 to 3 series of green, lanceolate bracts, 8 to 12 mm long and 2 to 3 mm wide. The disc florets have five-lobed corollas about 4 to 6 mm long. The stamens number five per disc floret, with slender filaments and yellow anthers fused into a tube around the style. The pistil has a single style with two elongated stigmatic branches approximately 3 to 4 mm long. The fruit is a small, dry achene about 2 to 3 mm long and 1 mm wide, topped with a pappus of white bristles approximately 5 to 7 mm long. Prairie groundsel is native to South Dakota, commonly found in prairies, open fields, and disturbed sites across much of the state.

  Synonym: Senecio plattensis

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  Asteraceae : Prenanthes racemosa

  R. Neil Reese

  Prenanthes racemosa is a perennial herb that grows from a fibrous root system with simple erect stems that have milky sap and are 30–150 cm tall. The stems have long, coarse hairs above and no hairs below. The leaves are simple, alternate, with the basal and lower cauline leaves ovate, petiolate, 7–40 cm long and up to 10 cm wide, with entire to toothed margins. The upper leaves becoming lanceolate and sessile. The inflorescence consists of heads arranged in racemes to narrow panicles. The heads with an involucre that is narrowly campanulate, 11–12 mm high, with bracts arranged in 2 rows that are purplish and variously hairy. The outer row of bracts is short, and the inner row is linear-lanceolate with a scarious margin. Each head contains 9-29 white to pink to purple ray flowers, the ligule 7–13 mm long. Fruit is an achene with 8-12 ribs and a pappus of numerous deciduous bristles. Rattlesnake root blooms in August and September in damp open prairies, meadows and along stream banks in eastern and western South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae :Pseudognaphalium macounii

  R. Neil Reese

  Pseudognaphalium macounii is a perennial herb growing 15 to 60 cm tall from a woody rootstock, with erect to ascending , slender stems, covered in fine, woolly hairs giving a grayish-white appearance. The leaves are alternate, with the lower leaves borne on petioles 1 to 4 cm long and upper leaves sessile; leaf blades are lanceolate to narrowly ovate, 2 to 6 cm long and 0.5 to 1.5 cm wide, with entire to slightly toothed margins, curled under near the base. Both upper and lower leaf surfaces are densely covered in woolly, white to gray hairs, creating a soft, felt-like texture. The inflorescence consists of dense clusters of small, yellowish-white flower heads arranged in terminal cluster of campanulate heads blooming from July through September. Each flower head is surrounded by an involucre of 4-5 series of cream to straw colored, papery bracts in 4.5-5.5 mm long. The calyx is modified into a pappus of fine bristles aiding in wind dispersal of the fruit. Flowers are disk florets with tubular yellow corollas approximately 3 to 5 mm long. There are 5 stamens per floret, they have slender filaments and yellow anthers, inserted near the base of the corolla tube, their anthers forming a tube around the style. The pistil has a slender style topped with a two-branched stigma. Fruit matures from August through October as a small achene, 1 to 2 mm long, topped with the pappus bristles (2–4 mm long). Native to South Dakota, Macoun’s everlasting grows in dry open woods, grasslands, and rocky slopes, often on well-drained sandy or gravelly soils predominantly in Lawrence and Pennington Counties.

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  Asteraceae : Ratibida columnifera

  R. Neil Reese

  Ratibida columnifera is a perennial herb with green stems arising singly or in clusters from a taproot, growing from 30 to 100 cm in height. The stems are hairy and often branched. The simple, alternate leaves are hairy and have many small glands, growing up to 15 cm long and 6 cm wide, deeply pinnately to bipinnately lobed (5-11 lobes), the ultimate segments being linear to oblong and often very unequal. One to a few heads sit atop a long peduncle, with 2 series of reflexed involucral bracts. Each head consists of 4 to 12 drooping, yellow, purplish-red, or purplish-red with yellow bordered ray florets that surround a columnar receptacle that is up to 5 cm long. The column is covered with numerous purplish disk florets, which open starting at the base of the column and moving upward. the achenes are 1.5-3 mm long with short hairs on the inner edge. Prairie coneflower blooms from June to September along roadsides in open prairies and disturbed fields throughout all of South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae Ratibida pinnata

  R Neil Reese

  Ratibida pinnata is a perennial herb with 30-120 cm, simple, hairy stems arising singly or in clusters from a rhizome. The stems can become branched in the region the inflorescence develops. The simple, alternate, petiolate leaves are up to 40 cm long and deeply pinnately divided, with the larger segments pointed and lance-ovate in shape. The margins vary from coarsely toothed to entire and the leaf surfaces are covered with short stiff hairs. The leaves are reduced in size as they ascend the stem becoming bract-like near the top. There are 1 to 12 flower heads at the top of the plant, each at the end of a long peduncle, and having a globular to oblong receptacle 1-2.5 cm tall and 1-2 cm wide, surrounded by 10-14 involucral bracts in 2 series. The heads have up to 15 yellow ray flowers, the ligules 3-6 cm long, spreading to drooping. The numerous greenish purple to brown disk flower’s corollas are 1.3-3 mm long and lack a pappus. The achenes are 2-3 mm in length. Gray-headed coneflower blooms from June through September in prairies and open woodlands on the eastern edge of South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae : Rudbeckia hirta

  R. Neil Reese

  Rudbeckia hirta is an annual (sometimes biennial or perennial) herb with ascending stem growing 30–100 cm tall. The stems are covered in long, white, stiff, spreading hairs and are generally unbranched or have a few branches in the upper half. The leaves are simple, alternate, petiolate, mostly basal, extremely variable in shape. The lower leaves are oblanceolate, 10–18 cm long and covered by coarse hair. The middle leaves are short petioled, lance-linear and reduced in size. The upper-most leaves are greatly reduced and sessile. The leaf margins are entire o with a few shallow teeth. The inflorescence consist of 1 to a few long-stalked flower heads at the top of the plant and arising from upper leaf axils. The receptacle is up to 2 cm in diameter, hemispheric to ovoid surrounded by hairy, elongated involucral bracts. There are 18-21 yellow to yellow-orange ray flowers with ligules 2-4 cm long, sometimes purplish near their base, surrounding the numerous brown to purplish brown disk flowers. The achenes are four-sided, ~2 mm long and lack a pappus. Black-eyed Susan bloom from May to September, mostly in disturbed prairies, roadsides and waste areas in northeast and southwest South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae : Solidago canadensis

  R. Neil Reese

  Solidago canadensis is a perennial forb with stems arising singly or in clusters from a rhizome and growing from 0.3 m to 2 m in height. The simple, alternate leaves are 3-nerved, 3-15 cm long and 5-20 mm wide, lance-elliptic: broadest near the middle, tapering to a sharp point at the tip and to a stalkless base. The margins are toothed, especially toward the leaf tips and the undersides of the leaves usually hairy. The inflorescence consists of widely varying shaped panicles of bright yellow heads. Each head has an involucre of 3 – 4 series of yellowish green bracts with a total length o 2-4.5 mm. there are 10-18 ray flowers, the ligules yellow and 1-3 mm long, surrounding 2-8 yellow disk flowers. The achenes are brown, oblong, 1 to 1.5 mm long, with white pappus of short hairs. Canadian goldenrod blooms from July to September in moist to drying open prairies and woodlands throughout South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae : Solidago mollis

  R. Neil Reese

  Solidago mollis is a perennial herb with a single or clusters of several ascending, grayish green stems arising from a rhizome and growing from 10 to 70 cm tall. There are both basal and alternate cauline leaves, thickish, firm, 3-nerved, elliptic to lanceolate, 3-8 cm long and 1-3 cm wide. The leaves are sessile or nearly so, the margins are subentire to irregularly toothed, and their size is reduced in the upper regions of the stem. The inflorescence is a dense, compact to elongated panicle of yellow heads. The heads have an involucre of overlapping bracts with a total height of 3.5-6 mm, with 6-10 ray flowers, corollas 3-4 mm tall with ligules 1-3mm in length, and 3-8 disk flowers, 2-5 mm tall. The achenes are short ~2 mm and hairy with a pappus of bristles. Velvety goldenrod blooms from July through October on dry or drying open prairies and open woods through South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae : Symphyotrichum ciliolatum

  R. Neil Reese

  Symphyotrichum ciliolatum is a perennial herb growing from a rhizome or occasionally from a short caudex and reaching 30-100 cm in height. The stems are mostly smoot toward the base and have short hairs towards the upper regions. The lower leaves are alternat, ovate to lanceolate with some of them contracted near the base forming a distinct petiole. The blade is toothed, 8-15 cm long and 2-6 cm wide and somewhat hairy beneath. The inflorescence is a panicle of a few to many heads, generally < 50 but occasionally more than 100. Each head has an involucre that is 5-7 mm tall with overlapping slender bracts that are yellowish white at the base. There are 15-25 ray flowers with blue-purple ligules 7-12 mm long and about 25 reddish purple disk flowers that slightly exceed the pappus. The fruit are flattened achenes, yellowish colored with minutely plumose bristles 3-6 mm long. Lindley’s aster blooms from July through October on rocky moist soils especially in open wooded areas.

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  Asteraceae : Tanacetum vulgare

  R. Neil Reese

  T

  Tanacetum vulgare is a perennial herb with erect, usually smooth stems arising from a branched rhizome, singly or in clusters growing 50–150 cm tall and branching near the top. The plant is strongly scented and has numerous, alternate, twice pinnately divided, fern-like green leaves. The inflorescence consist of numerous (up to 200) heads in a corymbiform cyme. The heads are disk shaped, hemispheric at maturity, 5-10 mm in diameter and surrounded by an involucre of overlapping bracts. The outer yellow disc flowers are tubular and 3-toothed and the inner corollas are 5-toothed. The achenes are 5-sided with a short crown-like pappus. Tansy blooms in July and August in waste places stream banks and flood plains in the eastern and western edges of South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae : Townsendia exscapa

  R. Neil Reese

  Townsendia escapa is a perennial dwarf growing from a branched caudex, forming small mats. The stems are about 1 cm in height and inconspicuous. The leaves are simple, entire, linear-lanceolate, 1–5 cm long, 2-6 mm wide, with short stiff hairs and appressed hairs on their surfaces. The inflorescence is 1 or more heads, sessile laying among the leaves. The involucre is broadly campanulate, 1-2 cm tall with 4-7 series of bracts. There are 20-40 ray flowers, the ligules 10–22 mm long, white to pink. The yellow disk corollas are 8–10 mm long . The achenes are flattened, 3.5-6 mm long, pubescent and have a long bristly pappus. Townsend’s daisy blooms in early spring (April-May) on open dry plains in southwestern South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae : Vernonia fasciculata

  R. Neil Reese

  Vernonia fasciculata is a perennial herb from a fibrous rooted base, 60-120 cm tall and unbranched or branched only near the top. The stem is round, hairless, and greenish to reddish purple. The alternate, simple lanceolate leaves are sessile or have very short petioles, 4-15 cm long and 5-45 mm wide. Their margins are toothed, the leaf surfaces are hairless, the lower leaf surface having a prominent central vein, and often small black dots. The inflorescence is a flat-topped cluster of heads with each head has an involucre of overlapping bracts, the inner ones longer than the outer bracts, their pedicels usually slightly pubescent. There are 10-30 magenta disk flowers, the corollas 9-11 mm long, with 5 spreading lobes and a prominent divided style. The achenes are ~3 mm long with a brown to purplish pappus that is about twice as long. Ironweed blooms from July through October in damp prairies and along streambanks throughout South Dakota.

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  Athyriaceae: Athyrium filix-femina

  R. Neil Reese

  Athyrium filix-femina is a deciduous, perennial fern with a short, stout, creeping rhizome that forms dense clumps but does not spread aggressively. The fronds (leaves) are upright to arching, 0.5–1.2 meters tall, and bright green, with a delicate, lacy appearance; each frond is bipinnate to tripinnate (deeply divided), lance-shaped, and tapers at both ends. The leaf stalk (stipe) is grooved and covered with fine brown scales at the base. Leaflets (pinnae) are oblong-lanceolate, with deeply toothed segments; the overall texture is soft and feathery. Both fertile and sterile fronds are similar in appearance. The reproductive structures (sori) are small, curved, and arranged along the veins on the underside of the fronds, each covered by a thin, curved indusium. Reproduction is by spores, which mature from midsummer to early fall. The spores are released from the sori when mature, and the plant relies on wind for spore dispersal. Lady Fern is native and widespread in South Dakota, found in moist woods, streambanks, seeps, and shady canyons—most frequently in the Black Hills, Coteau des Prairies, and other mesic habitats statewide.

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  Balsaminaceae : Impatiens capensis

  R. Neil Reese

  Impatiens capensis an annual herb with simple (occasionally branching), round, hollow stems that are smooth, succulent, pale green to pale reddish green, and somewhat translucent, growing 50-150 cm tall. The alternate, petiolate leaves are ovate to elliptic-ovate, 3-10 cm long and 2-7 cm wide, thin-textured, with rounded teeth. The leaf’s upper surface is green and the lower pale and waxy. The inflorescence consists of small clusters of 1-3 orange flowers, held horizontally on drooping pedicels from the axils of leaves. Each orange to red flower is 2-3 cm long, irregularly conical with upper and lower lips and a 6-9 mm spur that is bent back and parallel to the body. The petals usually have crimson to variously colored spots. The fruit is a 5-celled capsule and the mottled green to brown seeds are 4-5 mm long. When touched, the capsules explode and forcefully eject the seeds. Spotted touch-me-not blooms from May through October in moist woodlands, along streambanks and in marshes in eastern and southwestern South Dakota.

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  Berberidaceae: Mahonia repens

  R. Neil Reese

  Mahonia repens is a low-growing, evergreen shrub typically reaching 15 to 30 cm in height but spreading widely by trailing stems, forming dense mats. The plant has a woody root system and spreads by creeping stems that root at the nodes. Stems are wiry and covered with a smooth to slightly hairy bark. Leaves are alternate, pinnately compound with 5 to 9 leaflets, each leaflet measuring about 3 to 7 cm long and 1 to 3 cm wide. Leaflets are broadly elliptic to oblong with spiny-toothed margins and a leathery, glossy surface. Leaves have short petioles about 1 to 3 cm long. The inflorescence is a raceme of small, fragrant yellow flowers blooming from late spring to early summer (May–July). Each flower has six sepals and six petals arranged in two whorls; sepals are greenish yellow, about 4 to 6 mm long and 2 to 3 mm wide, ovate and spreading. The petals are bright yellow, about 6 to 8 mm long and 3 to 4 mm wide, obovate with rounded tips. Flowers have nine stamens with spurred filaments and a superior ovary. The fruit is a blue to dark purple berry about 6 to 10 mm in diameter with a waxy coating maturing in summer. In South Dakota, Oregon grape is native and found in forest understories, rocky slopes, and shaded areas primarily in the Black Hills region.

  Synonym: Berberis repens