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  Gentianaceae : Gentiana puberulenta

  R. Neil Reese

  Gentiana puberulenta is a perennial herb with simple, erect to ascending stems, rarely branched, the stems typically reddish tinged, with a covering of minute, soft hairs, and growing 15-50 cm in height. The simple, opposite leaves are sessile to subsessile, lanceolate, 1-5.5 cm long and 0.3-2 cm wide, with entire margins. The leaf pairs are at right angles to those above and below. The inflorescences are in clusters of 3-10 flowers at the top of the stem and sometimes also in the upper leaf axils. The calyx forms a tube, 7-18 mm long with lobes, 4-18 mm long. The blue purple to rose-violet corolla is funnel-shaped, 3-4 cm long, with the lobes erect to spreading. Inside the tube, the base of the petals is white with dark blue stripes or streaks. The fruit is a capsule that contains numerous winged seeds. Downy gentian blooms from August into October in drier prairies and upland woods on the eastern and western borders of South Dakota.

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  Geraniaceae: Erodium cicutarium

  R. Neil Reese

  Erodium cicutarium is an annual or biennial taprooted herbaceous species that initially forms a rosette with stems that typically grow 10–50 cm tall. The stems are slender, often reddish or purplish, and may be hairy or smooth. Leaves are 3–10 cm long, pinnately divided with narrow lobes, giving a fern-like appearance. Flowering occurs from spring through late summer (April–September). The flowers are borne singly or in small clusters on slender stalks. Flowers are small, typically 1–2 cm across, with five pink to purple petals that measure 10 to 15 mm in length and about 4 to 7 mm in width. Their edges are smooth, and the petals have a delicate, slightly translucent texture that enhances the visibility of the darker venation. The sepals are generally smaller than the petals, measuring about 6 to 9 millimeters long and 1.5 to 3 millimeters wide. They are often covered with fine hairs, giving them a slightly fuzzy appearance. Flowers are bisexual, with five stamens and a pistil. Fruit is distinctive: a long, beak-like style attached to a small seed capsule, this "stork's-bill" shape aids in seed dispersal by “catapulting” seeds away. Common Stork’s-bill is introduced and widespread in South Dakota, growing in disturbed sites, roadsides, fields, and grasslands, especially in drier areas.

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  Geraniaceae: Geranium carolinianum

  R. Neil Reese

  Geranium carolinianum is a winter or summer annual, or occasionally a biennial, herbaceous forb that develops from a shallow, fibrous taproot system. The plant typically grows to a height of 10 to 40 centimeters (occasionally up to 65 centimeters), producing erect, loosely ascending, or sprawling, multi-branched stems that are round, frequently pinkish red to reddish-brown, and covered in dense, short, downward-pointing or spreading white hairs. Leaf insertion is primarily alternate along upper branches but opposite below. The leaves are simple, grayish-green, and round to kidney-shaped, measuring 2 to 7 cm in length and width. They are deeply palmately cleft into 3 to 9 primary lobed segments, which feature bluntly toothed or secondary narrow-oblong ultimate segments. Both the upper and lower leaf surfaces are finely pubescent and hairy. Long, hairy petioles are present on lower leaves (often exceeding several centimeters), while upper leaves have much shorter petioles; pairs of small, pointed stipules are present at the nodes and leaf bases. Flowering occurs from March to July in tight, compact, or loose terminal umbel-like clusters roughly 1 to 3 cm across. Each flower features 5 free, green, ovate sepals that are 4 to 8 mm long, heavily pubescent, and adorned with distinct, stiff, pointed awn-tipped or bristle-tipped apexes. The corolla contains 5 free, pale pink, lavender, or white petals that are 4 to 8 mm long (roughly equal to or slightly shorter than the sepals), radially symmetrical, and often notched or slightly indented at the apex. Inside the corolla are 10 fertile, glabrous stamens arranged in two whorls, featuring yellowish-white filaments and small, purplish anthers. The single compound pistil contains a 5-lobed superior ovary connected to an elongated, fused central style column with 5 yellow, spreading stigma branches. The fruit is a dry schizocarp, resembling an upraised crane’s bill, measuring 19 to 25 mm long including the elongated style column or beak. It matures from late spring through mid-summer, splitting from the base into 5 dark brown, hairy, single-seeded mericarp sections. Carolina crane's-bill is native to South Dakota, where it can be found in scattered locations across the state, particularly in the southern and western counties (such as Pennington County), thriving in dry, gravelly, or sandy soils, open fields, disturbed areas, rocky woods, and prairies.

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  Geraniaceae: Geranium richardsonii

  R. Neil Reese

  Geranium richardsonii is a perennial herbaceous forb that grows from a stout, woody taproot and develops a branched, rhizomatous caudex over time. The plant typically reaches a height of 30 to 90 cm, having erect or ascending stems that are glabrous to sparsely hairy near the base but become heavily clad in sticky, glandular-tipped hairs throughout the upper canopy. Leaf insertion along the stem is opposite, though the plant also maintains a robust mound of basal leaves on elongated petioles measuring 5 to 30 cm in length. The leaves are simple, light to deep green, measuring 3 to 15 cm in width, and are deeply palmately cleft 75% to 85% of the way to the base into 3 to 7 primary, sharply toothed, rhombic lobes. Both the upper and lower leaf surfaces are covered in soft, fine puberulent hairs; pairs of lanceolate, slender stipules are present flanking the leaf bases at the nodes. Flowering occurs from June to August in loose, terminal, few-flowered cymes or two-flowered pseudo-umbels. Each flower contains 5 free, green, overlapping sepals that are 6 to 11 mm long, densely glandular-pubescent, and terminate in a distinct, stiff awn-tip 1 to 3 mm long. The corolla is composed of 5 free, distinctively spreading, white to pale lavender-pink petals that are 10 to 18 mm long, and are roughly 1.5 to 1.8 times longer than they are wide. The petals have rounded or slightly notched apexes and prominent purple or pink veins tracking down to a soft-hairy adaxial base. Arranged within the corolla are 10 fertile stamens measuring roughly 6 to 8 mm long, which possess cream-colored filaments and contrasting purple to blue-tinged anthers. The single compound pistil features an elongated, superior, 5-lobed ovary connected to a central style column that separates at the tip into 5 slender, spreading, pink-to-purple stigma branches. The resulting fruit is a dry, elongated schizocarp resembling a crane's bill, measuring 20 to 28 mm long. It matures from late summer into autumn, splitting elastically from the base into 5 separate, single-seeded, glandular-puberulent mericarp bodies. Richardson's geranium is native to South Dakota, where it occurs primarily within moist forest drainages, shaded canyons, and riparian meadows of the central and northern Black Hills region.

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  Geraniaceae: Geranium viscosissimum

  R Neil Reese

  Geranium viscosissimum is a perennial herb growing with 1 to a few branching stems that form clumps. The stems, 30-90 cm tall, generally have short, stiff hairs below and longer hairs toward the top near the flowers, with glands throughout, the foliage is sticky to the touch. The petiolate leaves are mostly basal, with flat stiff hairs and glands that exude the sticky substance. The blades are 5-10 cm wide, palmately lobed with 5-7 sharply toothed divisions. The few culm leaves are mostly opposite, nearly sessile and somewhat smaller than the basal leaves. The inflorescence consist of small clusters of two to several pedicellate flowers attached to axillary peduncles. The 5 sepals are 8-12 mm long, pointed with short hairs on the tips. The 5 petals are pink to purple, 14-20 mm long, with long hairs toward the base and darker stripes converging on the center. There are 10 fertile stamens and a 5-parted style. The fruit are capsules with glandular-stiff-hairs and are shaped like an upraised crane's bill. Sticky geranium blooms from May into August in open woods and along streambanks in western 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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  Iridaceae : 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 herb growing 15 to 40 cm tall from a fibrous root system with short rhizomes. The stems are slender, erect, and smooth or slightly rough. Leaves are narrow, grass-like, linear to lanceolate, typically 10 to 25 cm long and 2 to 5 mm wide, with entire margins. The upper and lower leaf surfaces are smooth and bright green. The plant blooms from May through July. The inflorescence consists of a solitary flower or a cluster of a few flowers at the top of a stem. The flower stalks are enclosed within 2 leaf-like bracts, green to purplish brown, the outer one 3-5 cm and the inner one about half as long. Flowers are star-shaped, about 15 to 25 mm in diameter, with six tepals (petal-like segments) that are pale blue to light violet with a yellow base. Each tepal is about 7 to 12 mm long and 3 to 5 mm wide, with a smooth texture and entire margins. There are six stamens per flower, forming a column of with filaments about 5 to 7 mm long and yellow anthers about 2 to 3 mm long. The pistil consists of three fused carpels forming a compound ovary with three locules, a style about 5 to 6 mm long, and a trifid stigma. The fruit is a 3-lobed capsule about 6 to 8 mm long that ripens from July to August, releasing numerous small seeds. Prairie blue-eyed grass is native to the eastern parts of South Dakota, commonly growing in prairies, open woods, and meadows.

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  Iridaceae: Sisyrinchium montanum

  R. Neil Reese

  Sisyrinchium montanum is a perennial herb growing 15 to 40 cm tall from a fibrous root system with short rhizomes. The stems are winged, slender, erect, and smooth to slightly rough. Leaves are narrow, grass-like, linear to lanceolate, typically 10 to 25 cm long and 2 to 5 mm wide, with entire margins. The upper and lower leaf surfaces are smooth and bright green. The plant blooms from May through July. The inflorescence consists of solitary or small clusters of star-shaped flowers about 15 to 25 mm in diameter, initially enclosed in ovate to lanceolate bracts that are smooth in texture, and measure 10 to 20 mm long. The spathe bracts are positioned opposite each other at the base of the flower cluster and often have a slightly membranous margin. Each flower has six tepals that are pale blue to violet with a yellow base. Tepals measure about 7 to 12 mm long and 3 to 5 mm wide, with a smooth texture and entire margins. There are six stamens per flower, with filaments about 5 to 7 mm long and yellow anthers about 2 to 3 mm long. The pistil consists of three fused carpels forming a compound ovary with three locules, a style about 5 to 6 mm long, and a trifid stigma. The fruit is a 3-lobed capsule about 6 to 8 mm long that ripens from July to August, releasing numerous small seeds. Mountain blue-eyed grass is native to South Dakota, commonly found in moist meadows, open woods, and along streambanks, mostly in the northern and western parts of 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: Glechoma hederacea

  R. Neil Reese

  Glechoma hederacea is a perennial, creeping herbaceous plant that spreads by stolons, forming dense mats on the ground. Stems are square in cross-section, typically reaching 10–50 cm in length, hairy, and spreading laterally or creeping along the soil surface, often rooting at nodes. Leaves are opposite, rounded to kidney-shaped with scalloped edges, 2–4 cm across, and aromatic when crushed. Flowering occurs from spring to early summer (April–June). The flowers are small, tubular, and bilaterally symmetrical, borne singly or in small clusters from leaf axils. They are typically light purple to bluish with darker purple markings on the lower lip. Each flower has five sepals and five petals. The sepals form a tubular calyx about 0.5–1 cm long, with five pointed lobes that are lanceolate in shape. The petals are fused into a two-lipped corolla about 1–1.5 cm long: the upper lip is hooded and two-lobed, while the lower lip spreads out and is three-lobed with a slightly notched center lobe. Flowers are bisexual with four stamens and a single, superior ovary formed from two fused carpels, which develops into a four-lobed schizocarp fruit that splits into four one-seeded nutlets that mature in late summer. Ground ivy is introduced and widespread in South Dakota, found in lawns, gardens, roadsides, and shaded disturbed areas.

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  Lamiaceae: Lamium amplexicaule

  R. Neil Reese

  Lamium amplexicaule is an annual herbaceous plant growing 10 to 40 cm tall with a fibrous root system. The stems are square in cross-section, sprawling to ascending, and covered with fine hairs. Leaves are opposite, simple, and broadly ovate to orbicular with rounded or slightly lobed margins, measuring about 2 to 5 cm long and wide. Leaves are sessile, clasping the stem (amplexicaul). The leaf surfaces are hairy and rough to the touch. The inflorescence consists of whorls of tubular, two-lipped flowers arranged in leaf axils, flowering from early spring to early summer (March–June). The calyx is composed of five sepals fused into a tubular cup about 5 to 8 mm long, with five pointed lobes that are ovate-lanceolate in shape and covered with fine hairs. The corolla is bilabiate, about 1 to 1.5 cm long and 0.5 to 0.8 cm wide, with the upper lip forming a hood that is broadly ovate and rounded, while the lower lip is three-lobed with the central lobe being the largest and slightly notched. The petals are pink to purple with darker markings on the lower lip. The flowers have four stamens, two long and two short, and a superior ovary with a bifid style. The fruit is a schizocarp that splits into four nutlets. In South Dakota, Henbit deadnettle is an introduced species, native to Eurasia, commonly found in disturbed sites, lawns, gardens, fields, and roadsides statewide.

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  Lamiaceae: Lamium purpureum

  R. Neil Reese

  Lamium purpureum is a winter annual, herbaceous dicot supported by a shallow, ultra-fine fibrous root system. The plant typically reaches a height of 10 to 30 cm. Its stems are sharply four-angled (square), mostly hollow, and branched at the base before growing erect. Leaf insertion is opposite along the stem. The simple leaves are broad-ovate to cordate, 1 to 4 cm long and wide, featuring deeply rounded-toothed margins and a blunt apex. While lower leaves are medium green, the upper leaves are densely crowded and conspicuously tinted with a reddish-purple hue. Both upper and lower leaf surfaces are covered in fine, soft hairs with prominent, wrinkled reticulate veining. A petiole is present, measuring 1 to 3 cm long on lower leaves, but becoming much shorter or nearly sessile on the topmost purple-tinted floral bracts. Flowering occurs primarily in early spring through mid-summer (March to July), though it can bloom sporadically during any mild period. The inflorescence consists of dense, multi-flowered axillary whorls stacked vertically at the stem apex to form a compact, leafy spike. The calyx consists of 5 fused sepals that form a tubular base roughly 5 to 7 mm long, terminating in 5 narrow, free, lanceolate, hair-fringed teeth that spread wide as the fruit develops. The corolla consists of 5 fused petals forming a two-lipped, elongated tube measuring 10 to 15 mm long. It is pinkish purple to lavender, with a hood-like upper lip that arches and a spreading, 3-lobed lower lip marked with deeper purple spots. Tucked beneath the hooded upper lip are 4 stamens arranged in two unequal pairs (didynamous); they bear small, dark purple, hairy anthers with pale yellow pollen. The single pistil consists of a superior, deeply 4-lobed ovary and a slender style that splits into 2 equal stigma lobes at its tip. The fruit is a dry schizocarp that splits into 4 distinct, 3-angled, club-shaped, obovoid nutlets. These nutlets measure 2 mm long, are greyish brown with small white speckles, and reach full maturity from May through August. Purple deadnettle is not native to South Dakota. It is an introduced species native to Eurasia and North Africa. In South Dakota, it is naturalized across scattered counties, predominantly in agricultural regions, urban settings, and eastern river valleys. It is commonly found in disturbed habitats, including home lawns, gardens, cultivated crop fields, nursery plots, parklands, and roadside ditches.

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  Lamiaceae: Leonurus cardiaca

  R. Neil Reese

  Leonurus cardiaca is a perennial herbaceous plant growing 0.5 to 1.5 meters tall. It has a fibrous root system with occasional short rhizomes. The stems are square in cross-section, erect, and typically covered with fine hairs. Leaves are opposite, simple, and palmately lobed with 3 to 5 deep lobes, measuring about 5 to 12 cm long and wide. Leaves are petiolate, with petioles approximately 2 to 5 cm long, and the leaf surfaces are sparsely to moderately hairy. The leaf margins are coarsely toothed. The inflorescence is a dense, interrupted spike of whorled flowers around the stem, flowering from mid to late summer (June–August). The calyx consists of five sepals fused into a tubular base about 4 to 7 mm long with five triangular-ovate, pointed lobes covered in fine hairs. The corolla is tubular, bilabiate, measuring about 8 to 12 mm long and 5 to 7 mm wide, with a hooded upper lip and a three-lobed lower lip; the petals are pink to purplish in color. Flowers have four stamens, two long and two short, and a superior ovary with a bifid style. The fruit is a schizocarp that splits into four nutlets. Motherwort is an introduced species native to Europe and parts of Asia. In South Dakota, it is found scattered in disturbed habitats, roadsides, and fields throughout the state.

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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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  Lamiaceae : Nepeta cataria

  R. Neil Reese

  Nepeta cataria is a perennial herbaceous plant growing from a fibrous root system, 40 to 100 cm tall with square, branched stems covered in fine hairs. The opposite leaves are ovate to heart-shaped, 3 to 7 cm long and 2 to 5 cm wide, serrated along the margins, and slightly hairy; they release a strong minty aroma when crushed, due to the presence of nepetalactone. The flowers are tubular and bilabiate, arranged in dense, spike-like verticillasters along the upper stems, blooming from late spring through early fall (June–September). Each flower has a calyx composed of five sepals fused into a tubular structure 5 to 7 mm long, with five distinct teeth. The corolla consists of five petals fused into a bilabiate tube 10 to 15 mm long, pale lavender to white with darker purple markings on the lower lip. There are four didynamous stamens (two long and two short), attached near the base of the corolla tube. The pistil consists of a superior ovary with a single style about 4 to 6 mm long, terminating in a bifid stigma approximately 1 to 2 mm wide; the stigma lobes are rounded. The fruit is a schizocarp divided into four smooth, shiny, brown nutlets approximately 2 to 3 mm long. Catnip is an introduced species in South Dakota, commonly found in disturbed sites, roadsides, and open fields throughout much of the state; it is native to Europe and Asia.

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  Lamiaceae :Stachys pilosa

  R. Neil Reese

  Stachys pilosa is a perennial, herbaceous plant with a fibrous root system and short, creeping rhizomes, forming loose, spreading clumps. Mature plants typically reach 30–90 cm in height. Stems are square in cross-section, erect, usually unbranched below the inflorescence, and densely covered with long, soft, spreading hairs (pilose). Leaves are opposite, simple, ovate to lanceolate, 4–12 cm long and 1–4 cm wide, with coarsely toothed margins and a rounded to slightly cordate base. The upper surface is medium to dark green and softly hairy, while the lower surface is paler and densely hairy. Petioles are present, 1–3 cm long, also covered with hairs. Stipules are absent. Flowering occurs from June to September, with dense, terminal and axillary spikes (verticillasters) 3–10 cm long, each containing many whorls of small, tubular flowers. The calyx is tubular, 7–10 mm long, with five narrow, pointed lobes, green, hairy, and slightly glandular; lobes are equal and not strongly spiny. The corolla is two-lipped (bilabiate), 12–16 mm long, pink to lavender, with the upper lip arched and the lower lip spreading and three-lobed. There are four stamens (didynamous: two longer and two shorter), about 7–10 mm long, with white to pale pink anthers. The pistil is single, with a deeply four-lobed ovary, a slender style 12–15 mm long, and a two-lobed stigma. The fruit is a cluster of four small, brown nutlets, each 2–3 mm long, maturing from late summer into fall. Downy woundwort is native to South Dakota and is found in prairies, open woodlands, roadsides, and moist, disturbed habitats, often in moderately rich, well-drained soils and full to partial sun.

  Synonym: Stachys palustris ssp. pilosa

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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.