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Vernonia acaulis (Walter) Gleason. Flatwoods Ironweed. Phen: Late Jun-Aug; Aug-Oct. Hab: Longleaf pine flatwoods, moist ecotones, and moister sandhill situations, in the Piedmont in dry rocky woodlands, hardpan woodlands, bluffs, and barrens. Dist: Coastal Plain and lower Piedmont of ne. and nc. NC south to sc. GA (Thomas and Grady counties). The single apparent record from FL is a collection listed from Polk County (P.O. Schallert 880) with no additional locality information. The specimen is indeed V. acaulis, but it is likely that the locality information of this specimen was not assigned correctly. Schallert notoriously misapplied specimen numbers and localities to the wrong collections, and given the disparate collection localities and chronological disorder adjacent to this collection (in addition to far disjunction), we consider the c. FL record to be in error. The specimen of Schallerts could literally have been collected from anywhere in the southeastern US based upon his other collections.

Origin/Endemic status: Endemic

Synonymy ⓘ: = Fl7, FNA19, K1, K3, RAB, S, SE1, WH3

Links to other floras: = Vernonia acaulis - FNA19

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Heliophily ⓘ: 8

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image of plant© Bruce A. Sorrie | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Scott Ward | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Bruce A. Sorrie | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Scott Ward | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Grant Morrow Parkins | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Scott Ward | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Scott Ward | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Emily Oglesby | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Emily Oglesby | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Alan Weakley, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Alan Weakley source CC-BY-NC, permission granted to NCBG | Original Image ⭷
image of plant© Scott Ward | Original Image ⭷

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Horticultural Information

NCBG trait

Intro: Erect perennial from a basal rosette, found in longleaf pine flatwoods, moist ecotones, and moister sandhill situations in the Coastal Plain; in the Piedmont, in dry rocky woodlands, bluffs and barrens.

Stems: Stems usually 1 per plant, branched above and mostly leafless.

Leaves: Leaves basal, elliptic to oblong-lance-shaped, 4-8 in. long, irregularly toothed and hairy to rough-hairy; a few alternate stem leaves are linear to elliptic and much smaller.

Inforescence:

Flowers: Composite flowers (heads) arranged at tips of spreading-ascending branches; heads about 1/2 in. wide, consisting of 30-40 spreading purple-magenta, tubular florets with 5 spreading, narrow lobes. Several series of lance-shaped bracts surround the bell-shaped base of each head.

Fruits: Fruit a cluster of rusty-tufted achenes.

Comments:

Height: 2-3 ft.

plant sale text: Like other vernonias, stemless ironweed produces vivid purple flowers borne in an upright cyme. These flowers are long lasting and attract many late-summer butterflies. The shorter stature of this species makes it an excellent choice for the middle or front of the perennial border. When not in bloom, the distinctive basal rosettes of this species provide an attractive ground cover as the plant seeds into the garden. This Southeastern native perennial is most often found growing wild in the coastal plain region on well-drained soils.

bloom table text:

description: Erect perennial from a basal rosette, found in longleaf pine flatwoods, moist ecotones, and moister sandhill situations in the Coastal Plain; in the Piedmont, in dry rocky woodlands, bluffs and barrens.

stems: Stems usually 1 per plant, branched above and mostly leafless.

leaves: Leaves basal, elliptic to oblong-lance-shaped, 4-8 in. long, irregularly toothed and hairy to rough-hairy; a few alternate stem leaves are linear to elliptic and much smaller.

inflorescence:

flowers: Composite flowers (heads) arranged at tips of spreading-ascending branches; heads about 1/2 in. wide, consisting of 30-40 spreading purple-magenta, tubular florets with 5 spreading, narrow lobes. Several series of lance-shaped bracts surround the bell-shaped base of each head.

fruits: Fruit a cluster of rusty-tufted achenes.

comments:

cultural notes:

germination code: 2

native range: NC, SC & GA