Synonyms: Other names: German madwort Nomenclature: procumbens = prostrate, trailing Nativity / Invasiveness: introduced plant, weed
No edibility data
No medicinal data
Description
General: annual, stems weak, scrambling-climbing, 30-120 cm long, hairless except for the short, backward-directed prickles along the angles on the stem.
Leaves: alternate, thin, rough-stiff-hairy and irregularly bristly-hairy on the edges, the lower oblanceolate, stalked, rarely as much as 10 cm long and 2.5 cm wide, often withering, the others gradually reduced, often becoming more elliptic and almost stalkless.
Flowers: blue, on short, stout, curved back stalks in or near the axils of the leaves or bracts, and in the forks of the branches. Calyx 5-lobed to about the middle, each lobe with a smaller tooth on each side near the base. Corolla 2-3 mm long and wide, broadly bell-shaped, with well-developed fornices, the anthers included.
May-July.
Fruits: fruiting calyx strongly enlarged, 1-2 cm wide, compressed, firmly paper-textured, strongly net-veined and shortly prickly with curved or hooked hairs. The 4 nutlets 2.5 mm long, enveloped by the calyx.
Distribution
A weed in fields and disturbed sites, usually in fairly moist soil, in most parts of MT. Native of Eurasia, now found here and there over much of n. U.S.
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No edibility data
No medicinal data
