Western Stickseed - Lappula occidentalis

Western Stickseed
Lappula occidentalis (S. Wats.) Greene
Synonym: L. redowskii

Family: Boraginaceae, Borage
Genus: Lappula

Description
General: annual or winter annual, probably occasionally
biennial, simple or variously branched, mostly 5-40 cm tall,
short-hairy or with short, stiff hairs throughout.

Leaves: numerous, up to about 6 cm long and 1 cm
wide, the basal ones oblanceolate and often withering,
stem leaves alternate, oblanceolate to more often linear or
linear-oblong, gradually or abruptly reduced to the often
more lanceolate bracts of the flower cluster, these seldom
over 1-1.5 cm long.

Flowers: several in narrow clusters that elongate to
spikes at maturity. Corolla inconspicuous, light blue or
white, only slightly, if at all, surpassing the calyx, 2-4 mm
long, the limb mostly 1.5-2.5 mm wide.
Flowering time: May-July.

Fruits: nutlets, the prickles on the outlets of the edges
in a single row, slender or swollen toward the base, distinct
or united below to form a rounded, often inflated border. The
fruit stalks erect or ascending.

Distribution
A weed in dry to moderately moist, usually more or less
disturbed sites, as along roadsides or on overgrazed
ranges, in most parts of MT. Also in most of w. N. America
and Eurasia.

Medicinal plant: see below.

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Contents
Identification
English Names Index
Scientific Names Index
Family Index

var. occidentalis:

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The Kayenta Navajo Indians used western stickseed as a lotion for itching. They also made a poultice of the plant applied to sores caused by insects, and a cold tea was used as a lotion for sores or swellings.

Varieties:

var. cupulata (Gray) Higgins:
Prickles on (2) 3 or all 4 of the nutlets of each flower fused below to form a prominent, rounded, often swollen border. Centered in s.w. U.S., and occasionally extends northward into our range in MT, ID, OR and s.e. WA.

var. occidentalis (S. Wats.) Greene:
The marginal prickles distinct, occurs essentially throughout the range of the species, and is the commoner phase of the species.