prairie turnip

Native

Dry. Undisturbed prairies.

May to July

Blue

4″ to 16″

This is a 4″ to 16″ tall, erect, perennial forb that rises on 1 to 3 stems from a spindle-shaped or round, tuberous-thickened, deep, edible root.

The stems are erect or ascending, often zigzagged, and much branched. They are densely covered with conspicuous, spreading hairs.

The leaves are alternate and are palmately divided into 5 leaflets. They are on hairy leaf stalks, the larger leaves on stalks 1½″ to 4″ long.

The leaflets are narrowly inversely egg-shaped or oblong to inversely lance-shaped and are folded along the midrib. They are ¾″ to 1½″ long and up to about ½″ to ¾″ wide when flattened. The upper surface is mostly hairless. The lower surface is densely covered with long, soft, silky, appressed, white hairs.

The inflorescence is a dense, leafy, cone-shaped spike 1⅛″ to 3⅛″ long and about 1″ wide rising on a stout stalk from the upper leaf axils.

The flowers are ⅝″ to ¾″ wide and pea-like, with 5 petals organized into a broad banner at the top, 2 narrow wings, and a keel in the center formed by two petals fused together at the tip. The petals are blue.

The fruit is a densely hairy, egg-shaped pod with a beak obviously longer than the pod. It contains a single seed.

Plant

Inflorescence

Leaves