Plants 0.6-1 m. Rhizomes just below ground level, horizontal, flesh usually orange. Stems usually 3-5-branched. Leaves 8-14 per stem; blade narrowly lanceolate, 1/2 to ± equaling stem, 10-20 mm wide, glaucous. Rhipidia usually 3-6-flowered; spathes ± equal, 10-20 mm. Tepals ascending proximally, ± spreading distally, light orange to reddish (rarely yellow), with large, irregularly scattered spots of darker pigment, lanceolate, 16-35 mm; filaments (6-)10-12 mm; anthers 6-8 mm; ovary narrowly ovoid-3-angled, (4-)6-8 mm; style 3-angled proximally, thickened in distal 1/2, dividing opposite anther apices, branches ca. 2 mm. Capsules ovoid, 18-26 mm, apex truncate. Seeds persisting on placentas after capsule dehiscence, black, ca. 4 mm diam., shiny.
Flowering Jun--Aug. Grassland, pastures, woodland clearings, disturbed limestone glades, rocky outcrops; introduced; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Md., Mich., Miss., Mo., Nebr., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., S.C., S.Dak., Tenn., Va., W.Va.; w Asia.
This plant is an escape from cultivation and at present is restricted mostly to the southwestern part of the state where it has become well established, especially in sandy soil in the western part of Sullivan County. My specimens are mostly from the slopes of open woodland that have a sandy soil. I found it well established over an area of about 2 acres south of Battle Ground, Tippecanoe County, where it was growing in dry, gravelly soil in open woodland.
Stem 3-6 dm, the fls cymose at the ends of the branches, lasting but a day; fls orange with crimson or purple spots and markings, 3-5 cm wide; capsule 2.5-3 נ1-2 cm; 2n=32. Native of Asia, well established as an escape from cult. in pastures, roadsides, thickets, and hillsides from Conn. to Nebr. and Ga. June, July. (Gemmingia c.)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
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