SCIENTIFIC NAME: Eryngium yuccifolium
COMMON NAME: Rattlesnake Master, Button Snake-root, Button Eryngo, Beargrass
BLOOM TIME: July, Aug, Sept
PLANT PROFILE:
- Plants grow 2 to 5 foot tall.
- Native Americans used to treat rattlesnake bites.
- Native Americans used the dried seed heads as rattles for their children.
- Native Americans also used leaves in weaving for sandals & baskets.
- Flowers and seeds look like prickly balls.
- Flowers have a sickly honey like scent when in bright sunlight..
- Very odd member of the Carrot family that resembles a yucca or some other desert plant.
- It is a true tallgrass prairie species with a unique appearance.
INSECT/ANIMAL INTERACTIONS:
- The coarse foliage & prickly balls of flowers are not popular as a source of food with mammalian herbivores, although they may nibble off the ends of the leaves.
- The flowering heads attract many kinds of insects, including long-tongued bees, short-tongued bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, skippers, moths, beetles, and plant bugs.