Cancerweed : Salvia lyrata


Kingdom : Plant
   Phylum : Magnoliophyta
          Class : Magnoliopsida
               Order : Lamiales
                    Family : Lamiaceae
                         Genus : Salvia
                              Species : lyrata L.

Common name: Lyreleaf sage, cancerweed

Description:

Plant with square stem, scapose or subscapose, scape naked or with one or two pairs of leaves on the stem; the basal rosette of 5-15 petiolate leaves more or less pilose or hirsute throughout.
Lyre-leaf sage flower, Photo by David Byres Stems 3-8 dm tall, simple or with 1-2 pairs of branches.

Basal leaves elliptic to obovate, pinnately lobed or dissected or unlobed, often lyrate, 5-17 cm long, obtuse to acute, margins toothed to smooth, base truncate to cuneate, petioles 2-8 cm long, often purple shaded especially along midrib.

Stem leaves elliptic, 2-8 cm long, unlobed to pinnately lobed, base cuneate.

Scape with whorls of 3-10 flowers, bracts not longer than calyx; calyx zygomorphic, 2-lipped, 7-10 mm long upper lip 3-toothed, lower lip 2-toothed, teeth spine tipped.

Corolla zygomorphic, 2-lipped, blue to violet with darker blue markings, rarely white, 1.5-3 cm long, fertile stamens 2, exserted.

Ovary supeior, stigma unequally 2-cleft, exserted.



Fruit composed of 4 mericarps, dark brown, finely warted, 2-2.3 mm long.


Habitat:

Roadsides, meadows and open woodlands.

Distribution:

Connecticut, southeastern New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Oklahoma, throughout the southeastern states to Florida and west to Texas.


Whole plant, Photo by David Byres



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