Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Campanulids: Apiales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Eryngium prostratum
FAMILY
Apiaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Read more about Spreading Eryngo at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Eryngium prostratum
FAMILY
Apiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 140-04-001:
Eryngium prostratum FAMILY Apiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Eryngium prostratum
COMMON NAME:
Spreading Eryngo, Creeping Eryngo
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_erpr5_001_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm140604_030
June Greenville County SC
Furman University
Bracts linear, usually 1x+ long as heads, often strongly reflexed at maturity, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm140604_032
June Greenville County SC
Furman University
)
JK Marlow jkm140604_451
June Greenville County SC
Furman University
A creeping species whose leaves are very irregularly toothed or lobed, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
)
JK Marlow jkm140611_724
June Greenville County SC
Furman University
)
JK Marlow jkm140612_789
June Greenville County SC
Furman University
)
Patrick D. McMillan pdmeprostratum_wadakoeb
June Pickens County SC
Jocassee Gorges
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_e_prostratum_15
July
Flower heads pale to dark blue, cylindric, solitary from leaf axils, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_eryngium_prostratum
July
Bracts subtending the head extending conspicuously beyond its base, per Weakley's Flora (2012).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Eryngium prostratum
FAMILY
Apiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Eryngium prostratum
FAMILY
Apiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 140-04-001:
Eryngium prostratum
FAMILY
Apiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Eryngium prostratum
1981
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: floodplain forests, bogs, pond margins, moist ditches and lawns, other moist, open habitats; definitely native southward, perhaps only rather recently spread to the northern parts of our area, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia? definitely native southward
Uncommon (rare in Mountains)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
IS THE PLANT "ARMED"?
Leaves not armed
LEAVES:
Simple
Basal & alternate (reduced upward)
Margins entire or irregularly toothed
FLOWER:
Spring/Summer/Fall
Bluish
5-merous
Inferior ovary
Flowers in compact heads, the heads solitary on peduncles from leaf axils
FRUIT:
Spring/Summer/Fall
Schizocarp of two mericarps
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006) p037
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p440
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p033
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p177
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p213
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p113
If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".
Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".