''Vernonia fasciculata'', the smooth ironweed or common ironweed, or prairie ironweed is a species of

perennial plant In horticulture, the term perennial (''wikt:per-#Prefix, per-'' + ''wikt:-ennial#Suffix, -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annual plant, annuals and biennial plant, biennials. It has thus been d ...

in the family

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

. It is native to Manitoba in Canada and the north-central U.S.A. ''Vernonia fasciculata'' inhabits areas with moist soils and prairies. It flowers in July to September.

Description

''Vernonia fasciculata'' is a herbaceous perennial that grows tall with unbranched stems, which end in an inflorescences with magenta flowers arranged in a dense

corymb Corymb is a botanical term for an inflorescence with the flowers growing in such a fashion that the outermost are borne on longer pedicels than the inner, bringing all flowers up to a common level. A corymb has a flattish top with a superficial re ...

Cultivation

''V. fasciculata'' is winter hardy in USDA zones 4-9, it is planted in full sun and used in rain gardens and as a naturalized plant because of its showy flower display, it is deer tolerant and adaptable to wet soils.

References

fasciculata {{Asteraceae-stub