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.
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.
