Winter-annual to biennial or short-lived perennial from a stout taproot, nearly stemless; lvs oblanceolate, 1-2 dm, runcinate-pinnatifid, often nearly to the midvein; fls axillary, the earliest sessile, the later ones on stout pedicels to 1 cm; hypanthium slender, 3-10 cm; sep lanceolate, 10-18 mm, reflexed, usually unilaterally so and connivent; pet obovate, 1-2.5 cm, pale yellow, drying whitish; stamens alternately unequal; fr hard, woody, long-persistent, ellipsoid or obovoid, 1-2 cm, the 4 wings each with a lateral tooth or angle. Dry woods, barrens, and prairies; Ky. and Tenn. to Kans. and Tex. May, June. (Lavauxia t.)

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

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

From Flora of Indiana (1940) by Charles C. Deam

Dry, rocky, wooded bluff of the Ohio River near Madison, Jefferson County. I have a specimen, too, collected by Win. H. Rudder near Salem, Washington County. No doubt a native of some of the hills of southern Indiana. Biennial in Indiana; flowering from spring sown seed.

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Indiana Coefficient of Conservatism: C = 10

Wetland Indicator Status: N/A