| Author | (Walter) Gleason | |
| Distribution | Lower Piedmont, Sandhills, and southwestern Coastal Plain; disjunct to Carteret County ("dry sandy soil between Newport and Cherry Point").
A rather limited range -- NC to south-central GA. | |
| Abundance | Fairly common to common in most of its range; rare to Carteret County. | |
| Habitat | In the Piedmont, mainly in dry to mesic, open woodlands, at times in rocky woods. However, in the Sandhills and Coastal Plain mainly in more moist settings -- moist to mesic Longleaf Pine-Wiregrass savannas and flatwoods, blackwater streamhead ecotones, moist sandy soil of open woods. In general in lightly wooded settings, in partial shade. | |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting late June-August (-September). | |
| Identification | Stemless Ironweed gets it name from the near lack of leaves on the stem, making it appear to be (but not actually) a long flower stalk. Elliptical basal leaves form a rosette flat on the ground, from which the nearly naked stem (leaves slender and small) rises 2-3 feet and sports an open inflorescence of pink-purple heads. Heads are all disk florets; rays are lacking. Can be confused with Elephantopus nudatus, and they may occur together, but that species has 3 large triangular bracts beneath each cluster of heads. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | Hybrids with V. angustifolia occur in scattered locations and have broad basal leaves and many stem leaves; they have been given the name V. x georgiana.
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| Other Common Name(s) | Leafless Ironweed | |
| State Rank | S4? [S4] | |
| Global Rank | G4 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
