Eryngium synchaetum (A. Gray ex J.M. Coult. & Rose) J.M. Coult. & Rose

Southern Rattlesnake Master

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Southern Rattlesnake Master is a native herbaceous perennial in the Carrot family (Apiaceae). It can be found in the southern half of Alabama. Southern Rattlesnake Master occurs in longleaf pine forest, in open savannahs, around the margins of pitcher plant bogs, and on roadsides. It is a perennial with thick, cord-like roots. Leaves are basal and cauline. The basal leaves form solitary or clusters of rosettes. The cauline leaves are alternate. Leaves are linear or lanceolate in outline, parallel veined, green or bluish-green in color, thick and leathery in texture, with clusters of 2-3 bristles along the margins. Flowers are produced in heads arranged in cymes at the top of an erect flowering stem. The flowering stems are branched near the apex. Each head is subtended by several prominent bracts that are shorter than the head. Individual flowers are greenish-white in color and inconspicuous. Individual flowers have 5 white petals, a pistil divided into 2 white styles and 5 stamens with white filaments and tan anthers. The fruit is mericarp. Southern Rattlesnake Master is an important nectar source for a variety of pollinators, especially native bees, wasps, and moths. It is a larval food plant for the Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes). This species has long been treated as a variety of the Northern Rattlesnake Master (as Eryngium yuccifolium Michaux var. synchaetum A. Gray ex J. M. Coulter & Rose). It differs in being a smaller plant over all with narrower leaves and clusters instead of solitary bristles along the leaf margins.—A. Diamond.

Eryngium synchaetum has often been treated as a var. of E. yuccifolium. However, it seems sufficiently distinct by several characters to warrant recognition at the species rank. In short, typically E. synchaetum produces much narrower leaves than than E. yuccifolium and produces clusters of bristles (2-3 bristles per cluster) along the leaf margins. The bristles are solitary along the leaf margins of E. yuccifolium.

Native FAC (NWPL)

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