Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Lamiids: Lamiales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Melampyrum lineare
FAMILY
Orobanchaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Read What Cow? What Wheat? from Lytton Musselman and the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society.
Read more about Cow-wheat at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Melampyrum lineare
FAMILY
Scrophulariaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Melampyrum lineare
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 17 (2019)
Melampyrum lineare
INCLUDING Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Melampyrum lineare var. latifolium
INCLUDING Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Melampyrum lineare var. lineare
INCLUDING Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Melampyrum lineare var. pectinatum
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 166-30-001:
Melampyrum lineare FAMILY Scrophulariaceae
INCLUDING Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)
Melampyrum lineare var. americanum
INCLUDING Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)
Melampyrum lineare var. latifolium
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Melampyrum lineare
COMMON NAME:
Cow-wheat
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_mela6_001_lvd
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_meli2_001_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm060508_227
May Macon County NC
Nantahala National Forest: Wayah Ranger District
Whitish flowers with a yellow tip; grows in dry woods, per Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977).
)
JK Marlow jkm060508_308
May Macon County NC
Nantahala National Forest: Wayah Ranger District
)
JK Marlow jkm060508_331
May Macon County NC
Nantahala National Forest: Wayah Ranger District
)
JK Marlow jkm120517_108
May Yancey County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
)
JK Marlow jkm150509_008
May Dawson County GA
Dawson Forest WMA
Leaves quite variable, linear to ovate-lanceolate, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
Dan Whitten sdw_cowwheat
May Swain County NC
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Calyx tube 3-4mm long, with 4 lobes almost equal or one much longer, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm0407m_11
July Sevier County TN
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
)
JK Marlow jkm0407m_14
July Sevier County TN
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Stem leaves entire (bracteal leaves in and near the inflorescence sometimes pectinately fringed), per Weakley's Flora (2023).
)
JK Marlow jkm060710_154
July Tucker County WV
Monongahela National Forest
)
JK Marlow jkm080913_040
September Transylvania County NC
DuPont State Forest
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_m_lineare_lati_s
September
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Melampyrum lineare
FAMILY
Orobanchaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Melampyrum lineare
FAMILY
Scrophulariaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Melampyrum lineare
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 17
Melampyrum lineare
INCLUDING
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Melampyrum lineare var. latifolium
INCLUDING
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Melampyrum lineare var. lineare
INCLUDING
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Melampyrum lineare var. pectinatum
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 166-30-001:
Melampyrum lineare
FAMILY
Scrophulariaceae
INCLUDING
Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)
Melampyrum lineare var. americanum
INCLUDING
Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)
Melampyrum lineare var. latifolium
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Melampyrum lineare
2072
Forb
Annual
Habitat: Dry rocky or sandy soils, including ridgetop woodlands, heath balds, sandy areas in the Coastal Plain from e. VA northwards, and in thin soils around rock outcrops (especially on granitic domes in the Blue Ridge south of the Asheville Basin), per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common in Carolina Mountains, uncommon in GA Mountains (rare elsewhere in GA-NC-SC)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)
LEAVES:
Simple
Opposite
FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
White
(with a yellow tip)
Bilaterally symmetrical
4-lobed calyx
2-lipped corolla
4 included stamens
Superior ovary
Bisexual
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Capsule
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p076
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p224
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p093
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p273
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p242
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p287
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p157
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