''Chelone glabra'', or white turtlehead, is a herbaceous species of

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

native to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. Its native range extends from

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...

and from

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

. Its common name comes from the appearance of its flower petals, which resemble the head of a

tortoise Tortoises ( ) are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin for "tortoise"). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like o ...

. In fact, in Greek, chelone means "tortoise" and was the name of a

nymph A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...

who refused to attend the wedding of

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

and was turned into a turtle as punishment. Its natural habitat is wet areas, such as

riparian forests A riparian forest or riparian woodland is a forested or wooded area of land adjacent to a body of water such as a river, stream, pond, lake, marshland, estuary, canal, sink, or reservoir. Due to the broad nature of the definition, riparian woodla ...

and

swamps A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

. Its classification at the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

level has in the past been controversial, but as a result of

DNA sequence A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases within the nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. This succession is denoted by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of the nu ...

studies, it is now regarded as belonging to family

Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae, the plantain family or veronica family, is a large, diverse family (biology), family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as Antirrhinum, snapdragon and Digitalis, foxglove. It is unrelated ...

(the plantain family). In early taxonomic treatments the species was divided into a number of subspecific categories but more recent studies indicate no morphological or genetic basis for these taxonomic categories.

Description and ecology

This species has opposite, simple

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

, on stout, upright stems. The flowers are white, borne in late summer and early fall. It is the primary plant on which the

Baltimore checkerspot The Baltimore checkerspot (''Euphydryas phaeton'') is a North American butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It has been the official state insect of the U.S. State of Maryland since 1973. The Baltimore checkerspot was named for the first Lord B ...

butterfly will lay its eggs (although the butterfly to some extent will use a few other species). ''Chelone glabra'' is a popular browse plant for deer. It is also a foodplant for the sawflies ''

Macrophya nigra ''Macrophya'' is a genus of sawfly (order Hymenoptera, family Tenthredinidae). Species *''Macrophya albicincta'' (Schrank, 1776) *'' Macrophya albipuncta'' (Fallén, 1808) *'' Macrophya alboannulata'' A. Costa, 1859 *'' Macrophya annulata' ...

'' and ''

Tenthredo grandis ''Tenthredo'' (from the Greek ''tenthrēdōn'' "earth nesting wasp") is a genus of sawflies with more than 700 species of the family Tenthredinidae, subfamily Tenthredininae. It is of Holarctic distribution. Description Species of this genus a ...

'' (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae), and a flea beetle in the genus

Dibolia ''Dibolia'' is a genus of flea beetles in the family Chrysomelidae. There are some 60 described species worldwide. Selected species * '' Dibolia alpestris'' Mohr, 1981 * '' Dibolia borealis'' Chevrolat in Guérin-Méneville, 1834 (northern pl ...

(Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) has also been shown to feed on it.

Uses

It has been used as a method of birth control by Abenaki people.

References

External links

* * {{- Plantaginaceae Flora of Eastern Canada Flora of the Northeastern United States Flora of the Southeastern United States Flora of the Appalachian Mountains Flora of the Great Lakes region (North America) Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Flora of the North-Central United States