Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains
39. Boraginaceae, the Borage Family
2. Plagiobothrys F. & M. -- Popcorn-flower1. Plagiobothrys scouleri (H. & A.) I.M. Johnst.
Low, strigose annual 0.5-3 dm tall, with several to many prostrate to ascending or suberect stems, or single-stemmed and erect. Leaves alternate or only the lowest 1-few pairs opposite, sessile, linear, 0.5-3 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, strigose to short-hispid, acute-tipped. Flowers very small, remotely spaced in irregularly bracteate false spikes or racemes which often run nearly the entire length of the stems; calyx deeply lobed, 2-4 mm long; corolla inconspicuous, white, slightly surpassing the calyx, 1-2 mm across, fornices minute but well developed. Nutlets usually 4 (or 1-3 by abortion), ovate-lanceolate, 1.5-2 mm long, rugose on the back and also commonly tuberculate, sometimes with minute bristles. Jun--Aug. Shores, stream banks, ditches and dried flats of temporary ponds and marshes, usually in heavy gumbo soils; occasional in c and w ND and SD, e MT and WY and probably w NE; (Man. to B.C., s to SD, NM and CA). P. scopulorum (Greene) I. M. Johnst.
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