tuberous Indian plantain

(Arnoglossum plantagineum)

Conservation Status
tuberous Indian plantain
 
  IUCN Red List

not listed

     
  NatureServe

S2 - Imperiled

     
  Minnesota

Threatened

     
           
Wetland Indicator Status
     
  Great Plains

FAC - Facultative

     
  Midwest

FAC - Facultative

     
  Northcentral & Northeast

FAC - Facultative

     
           
 
Description
 
 

Tuberous Indian plantain is an erect, perennial forb that rises on a rosette of basal leaves and a single stem from a horizontal underground stem (rhizome) and fleshy roots. In Minnesota it is usually 20 to 40 tall, though in other parts of its range it can reach 70 in height. It occurs from Ontario to Texas and Georgia. It is most common in the Midwest from Iowa and Illinois to Texas and Louisiana. It is rare in Minnesota, where it is listed as a threatened species.

The stem is erect, stout, angled, grooved, hairless, and unbranched below the inflorescence. It is green and has a fine, reddish-purple, longitudinal line on each angle, at least near the base of the plant. It is not covered with a whitish waxy bloom (glaucous).

Basal leaves are thick, firm, leathery, 3 to 8 long, and 1 to 3 wide. They are on stout, greenish-white to reddish-green, up to 4 long leaf stalks (petioles). The leaf blades are elliptic to egg-shaped, unlobed, rounded or bluntly pointed at the tip, and tapered at the base. The margins are greenish-white to reddish-green, usually untoothed, sometimes wavy, sometimes coarsely toothed. The upper and lower surfaces are hairless but not glaucous. There are 7 to 10 conspicuous, more or less parallel veins diverging from the base and converging at the tip.

Stem leaves are alternate and get progressively smaller and shorter stalked as they ascend the stem. Lower stem leaves are similar in size and appearance to basal leaves. Upper stem leaves are short stalked, egg-shaped to narrowly inversely egg-shaped, and tapered at the base. They are usually untoothed, sometimes coarsely toothed. Uppermost leaves are often stalkless.

The inflorescence is a flat-topped, branched, loose, 3 to 8 in diameter cluster (cyme) at the end of the stem. The flowers in the center on the cyme open first, the outermost flowers open last. The branches of the cyme are greenish-white and hairless.

Each flower head is 5 16 to long and to 3 16 wide. The whorl of bracts at the base of the flower head (involucre) has sharp, wing-like keels. The bracts are green with white keels and white tips. Each flower head has five disk florets. The corollas are 5 16 to 7 16 long, and white or cream-colored. They have 5 lobes that strongly bend backward. They extend only slightly beyond the involucre. The style is branched and has a stigmatic band along the inner surface of each branch.

The fruit is a dry, to 3 16 long capsule (achene) with a tuft of ¼ to long hairs attached at the end. The achene is dark brown and narrowly oval, and has 5 to 12 longitudinal ribs.

 
     
 

Height

 
 

20 to 40

 
     
 

Flower Color

 
 

Greenish-white to white or cream-colored

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
 

 

 
     
 
Habitat
 
 

Usually wet to moderate moisture,rarely dry. Wet prairies, pastures, and bogs. Full to partial sun.

 
     
 
Ecology
 
 

Flowering

 
 

June through August

 
     
 

Pests and Diseases

 
 

 

 
     
 
Use
 
 

 

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 28, 29, 30.

 
  5/24/2023      
         
 

Nativity

 
 

Native

 
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

Rare in Minnesota

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
  Kingdom Plantae (green algae and land plants)  
  Subkingdom Viridiplantae (green plants)  
  Infrakingdom Streptophyta (land plants and green algae)  
  Superdivision Embryophyta (land plants)  
  Division Tracheophyta (vascular plants)  
  Subdivision Spermatophytina (seed plants)  
  Class Magnoliopsida (flowering plants)  
  Superorder Asteranae  
 

Order

Asterales (sunflowers, bellflowers, fanflowers, and allies)  
 

Family

Asteraceae (sunflowers, daisies, asters, and allies)  
  Subfamily Asteroideae  
  Supertribe Senecionodae  
  Tribe Senecioneae (groundsels and allies)  
  Subtribe Tussilagininae  
  Genus Arnoglossum (Indian plantains)  
       
 

Subordinate Taxa

 
 

 

 
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

Cacalia plantaginea

Cacalia pteranthes

Cacalia tuberosa

Mesadenia tuberosa

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

arnoglossum

groove-stem Indian-plantain

groovestem Indian plantain

prairie Indian plantain

tuberous Indian plantain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Achene

A dry, one-chambered, single-seeded seed capsule, formed from a single carpel, with the seed attached to the membranous outer layer (wall) only by the seed stalk; the wall, formed entirely from the wall of the superior ovary, does not split open at maturity, but relies on decay or predation to release the contents.

 

Axil

The upper angle where a branch, stem, leaf stalk, or vein diverges.

 

Bract

Modified leaf at the base of a flower stalk, flower cluster, or inflorescence.

 

Cyme

A branched, flat-topped or convex flower cluster in which the terminal flower opens first and the outermost flowers open last.

 

Glaucous

Pale green or bluish gray due to a whitish, powdery or waxy film, as on a plum or a grape.

 

Involucre

A whorl of bracts beneath or surrounding a flower or flower cluster.

 

Petiole

On plants: The stalk of a leaf blade or a compound leaf that attaches it to the stem. On ants and wasps: The constricted first one or two segments of the rear part of the body.

 

Rhizome

A horizontal, usually underground stem. It serves as a reproductive structure, producing roots below and shoots above at the nodes.

 

Rosette

A radiating group or cluster of leaves usually on or close to the ground.

 
 
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Plant

 
    tuberous Indian plantain   tuberous Indian plantain  
           
    tuberous Indian plantain   tuberous Indian plantain  
           
 

Inflorescence

 
    tuberous Indian plantain   tuberous Indian plantain  
           
 

Flowers

 
    tuberous Indian plantain   tuberous Indian plantain  
           
 

Basal Leaves

 
    tuberous Indian plantain   tuberous Indian plantain  
           
 

Stem Leaves

 
    tuberous Indian plantain   tuberous Indian plantain  
           
 

Stem

 
    tuberous Indian plantain   tuberous Indian plantain  

 

Camera

     
 
Slideshows
 
  Arnoglossum plantagineum
Joshua Mayer
 
  Arnoglossum plantagineum  
 
About

Prairie-Indian Plantain

 

 

slideshow

       
 
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Created: 4/23/2019

Last Updated:

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