Tall Ironweed
Veronia altissima
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This erect member of the Daisy family
sports flat-topped inflorescences of deep purple flowers. Each flower head
measures ¼ inch (6 mm) wide with 13 to 50 five-lobed disk flowers
(ray flowers are absent) surrounded by a blunt-tipped bract underneath.
Bracts are often purple. The lanceolate, pointed leaves are alternate,
sessile, sharply toothed and downy on the underside. Plants grow in old
fields, along roadsides, pastures (cattle avoid this plant) and rich, wet
soil and reach 3 to 7 feet (90 to 210 cm) in height. Of the four species
of Ironweed in Kentucky, this is the most common. Flowers bloom form August
to October.
