Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Section: Common Name: Scientific Name: Family:
Account for Spoon-shaped Barbara's-buttons + - Marshallia obovata var. obovata   (Walter) Beadle & Boynton
Members of Asteraceae:
Members of Marshallia with account distribution info or public map:
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Section 6 » Order Asterales » Family Asteraceae
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Author(Walter) Beadle & Boynton
DistributionMid and lower Piedmont only. No records from the Sandhills proper or the flat Coastal Plain.

Mostly Piedmont, VA and TN south to GA and AL.
AbundanceUncommon to common. Tends to form patches from slender horizontal rhizomes. On 6 May 2025, there were hundreds of thousands of flowering stems in narrow powerline beside River Road, Montgomery Co.; the plants mostly occurred in large patches.
HabitatDry to moist or clayey soil of pine-deciduous woodlands, openings, roadsides, powerlines.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting late April-early June.
IdentificationThis species and the next have strictly white heads that grow singly atop short stems (mostly 6 inches to a foot, max 2 feet). Leaves are lance-shaped but broadest towards the tip, 3-10 in number, and extend up to mid-stem (or a bit higher). Var. scaposa is very similar, but has only 1-5 leaves, all below midstem.
Taxonomic CommentsThe two varieties of this species are likely to be elevated to species rank in the near future.

Other Common Name(s)
State RankS3
Global RankG4G5T3T5
State Status
US Status
USACE-agcp
USACE-emp
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photographercommentsphoto_linkcountyobsType
B.A. SorrieAbundant along River Road, 6 May 2025. Note discreet patches. MontgomeryPhoto_natural
B.A. SorrieAbundant along River Road, 6 May 2025. MontgomeryPhoto_natural
B.A. SorrieSame data.
B.A. SorriePiedmont, roadside, Old River Road E of Carthage-Glendon Road, May 2015.
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