- Description:
Stems are erect, smooth and grooved. Ovate leaves, mostly at the base of the plant, are
thick and smooth with parallel veins. The flower heads are flat-topped with unusual
looking white to cream colored flowers.
- Comments:
It is hard to miss this plant standing tall above the grasses in June. The flower bracts
are cylindrical and have winged ribs. The erect, brownish and yellow projections are the
male and female flower parts. Below these and above the bracts are narrow, tightly-curled,
petal lobes. The seeds are topped by a tuft of bristly hairs used for wind dispersal,
which can scatter them great distances. Tuberous Indian-plantain prefers moist, clay soil
but grows in a range of soil conditions on open prairies in the eastern half of Kansas.
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