Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Lamiids: Boraginales? order assignment uncertain
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Lithospermum virginianum
FAMILY
Boraginaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Read more about Virginia Marbleseed at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Onosmodium virginianum
FAMILY
Boraginaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Lithospermum virginianum
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 161-06-001:
Onosmodium virginianum FAMILY Boraginaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Onosmodium virginianum
COMMON NAME:
Virginia Marbleseed, Virginia False Gromwell, Pineland Marbleseed
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_onvi2_001_lvd
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_l_virginianum_2
June
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_lithospermumvirgi
June
Flowers borne in a distinctive, leafy, coiled inflorescence [helicoid cyme], per Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006).
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_l_virginianum_c
July
The mostly oblong leaves 1-5" long. All parts of the herbage hairy, rough, per Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006).
)
JK Marlow jkm221015_0393
October Oconee County SC
The leaves have characteristically parallel veins that are deeply sunken on the upper surface, per Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
)
JK Marlow jkm221015_0397
October Oconee County SC
Fruits are hard, white, smooth, glossy, ovoid nutlets, 2-2.8mm long, per Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region (Sorrie, 2011).
)
JK Marlow jkm221015_0399
October Oconee County SC
Stems covered with stiff, uni-directional hairs, per Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019).
)
JK Marlow jkm221015_0400
October Oconee County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm221015_0402
October Oconee County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm221015_0405
October Oconee County SC
It seems to occur in very small populations, consisting often of fewer than five plants, per Weakley's Flora (2022).
)
JK Marlow jkm221015_0406
October Oconee County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm221015_0408
October Oconee County SC
Fruit a tiny, faintly pitted, dull white nutlet, per Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019).
)
JK Marlow jkm221015_0409
October Oconee County SC
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Lithospermum virginianum
FAMILY
Boraginaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Onosmodium virginianum
FAMILY
Boraginaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Lithospermum virginianum
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 161-06-001:
Onosmodium virginianum
FAMILY
Boraginaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Onosmodium virginianum
2738
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: Longleaf pine sandhills, shell middens in the outer Coastal Plain, woodlands and barrens over diabase and other mafic rocks in the Piedmont and low Mountains, barrens, glades, or woodlands over calcareous rocks in the Mountains (the unifying ecological factor determining its distribution may be an open, woodland condition maintained by fire), per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common in GA & SC Coastal Plain (rare in NC, uncommon elsewhere in GA-NC-SC)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Simple
Mostly alternate
Margins entire
FLOWER:
Spring/Summer/Fall
Yellow to orange, pale greenish, pale cream-yellow
5-parted calyx
5-lobed tubular to tubular-funnelform corolla
5 stamens
Superior ovary
Bisexual
Inflorescence a leafy helicoid cyme
FRUIT:
Spring/Summer/Fall
White
Schizocarp of specialized mericarps (nutlets)
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006) p186
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p182
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p222
- Field Guide to the Rare Plants of Georgia (Chafin, 2007) p241
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p243
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p132
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p137
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region (Sorrie, 2011) p093
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