Geocaulon lividum
false toad-flax, northern comandra
rhizomes 1.5–3 mm;
aerial shoots 0.7–3 dm.
blades elliptic, oblong, or obovate, 1.5–5 × 0.5–1 cm, apex obtuse to rounded, thin, flaccid, surfaces green, grayish green, or purplish.
peduncles 5 mm, expanding to 1.5 cm in fruit.
1 mm.
4 mm diam.;
filaments 0.5 mm;
styles 0.3 mm.
oily, fleshy.
yellowish orange to scarlet, 6–10 mm.
= 52.
Geocaulon lividum
Although Geocaulon lividum is considered secure across its full range, in parts of the eastern United States it is of special concern (Maine), threatened (New Hampshire), or endangered (New York, Wisconsin).
Fernald described the sexual condition as androdioecious, but F. H. Smith and E. C. Smith (1943) stated that the central flowers of each cymule are pistillate and the laterals staminate, thus the species would be monoecious. Here it is considered andromonoecious, with the central flower (rarely 2 flowers) bisexual and the lateral staminate (and dropping after anthesis), or sometimes all the flowers staminate.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
BC
WA
Flora NW
Go Botany
MI Flora
MN Wildflowers
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
