| Author | L. | |
| Distribution | Occurs throughout the state, and certainly is present in all 100 counties.
This is a very widespread Eastern species, found in essentially every county in the range from CT and MO south to the Gulf Coast.
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| Abundance | Very common across the state, slightly less so in the far eastern counties. One of the most common native species in the state. | |
| Habitat | This species occurs in a great variety of habitats, most weedy now. It is found in lawns, roadsides, weedy fields, powerline clearings, ditches, openings in bottomlands, and openings in various forest types. | |
| Phenology | Blooms mostly from April to May, but can bloom much later depending on mowing; fruits mostly from May to July. | |
| Identification | This is a very familiar plant, to many people seemingly a non-native weed. It has a basal rosette, each of these leaves is about 5" long and about 1" wide, in general shape oblanceolate, but with 5-7 oak-like rounded lobes. There may be some purplish color on these leaves. The mostly naked stem reaches about 1-1.5' tall, with an occasional branch or two. The flowers are in several "whorls" near the top of the stem, with about 6-10 tubular light to medium blue flowers, each nearly 1" long, at each level. These flowers are often drooping. No other species resembles this one, in leaf or flower, and it can be seen daily, often many times a day. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | None
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| Other Common Name(s) | Cancer-weed | |
| State Rank | S5 | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
