Prenanthes alba L.

• Authority

  Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

• Family

  Asteraceae

• Scientific Name

  Prenanthes alba L.

• Description

  Species Description - Stem stout, 4–17 dm; herbage ± glaucous; lvs glabrous above, often hairy beneath, highly variable in size and shape, the lower long-petioled, palmately or pinnately few-lobed to sagittate or hastate-reniform and merely coarsely toothed, becoming smaller, less cut, and less petiolate upward; infl elongate-paniculiform; heads nodding; invol 11–14 mm, with mostly 8 principal bracts, these glabrous, generally somewhat purplish, ± densely papillate with white, waxy- appearing cells that are usually distinguishable at 10×; reduced outer bracts, as in no. 4 [Prenanthes serpentaria Pursh], mostly a little longer and narrower than in no. 5 [Prenanthes trifoliolata (Cass.) Fernald]; fls 9–11(–15), mostly white to pinkish or lavender; pappus cinnamon- brown; 2n=32. Woods; Me. to Man., s. to N.C., W.Va., and Mo. Aug., Sept.

• Common Names

  rattlesnake-root