21 September 2022.
Kansas, United States
Locality: Coronado Heights Park, Smoky View, Kansas hillsides surrounding the historic WPA circa 1932 Coronado Heights Castle located about 91 meters above the surrounding land. This plant is common and abundant on the slopes of this site.
Coordinates: 38.6135, -97.7034
(Map it)
Elevation: 475m.
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: Plants growing in part shade to full sun, under extreme exposure, rocky, dry and thin soils of this short grass prairie habitat on the slopes surrounding the summit of Coronado Heights Park. The underlying geology of this area is of Upper Cretaceous origin and comprised of Kiowa Shale or FM- light -gray to black illitic shale with thin coquinoidal limestone beds at the base; sandstone lenses are common. Cheyenne Sandstone-massive to cross-bedded, light-gray to buff fine-grained sandstone with lenses of gray sandy shale and conglomerate.
Source: USGS Kansas Geologic Map Data (https://mrdata.usgs.gov/geology/state/sgmc-unit.php?unit=KSKkc%3B0)
The surface soil profile of this area is Lancaster-Hedville complex, 3 to 20 percent slopes. The Lancaster series consists of moderately deep, well drained soils that formed in residuum from sandstone and sandy shales; it can be up to 200 cm deep. Slopes range from 1-20%. Hedville soils have bedrock within 50 centimeters of the surface and occur on similar hillslope positions.
Source: NRCS Web Soil Survey (https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/WebSoilSurvey.aspx)
Slope: 5-20% Aspect: all
Number of plants sampled: 30
Associated species: Artemisia ludoviciana, Asclepias sp., Asclepias tuberosa, Bouteloua curtipendula, Celtis occidentalis, Cenchrus longispinus, Echinacea angustifolium, Euphorbia marginata, Fraxinus americana, Gleditsia triacanthos, Gutierrezia sarothrae, Helianthus annus, Helianthus pauciflorus, Juniperus virginiana, Lespedeza capitata, Liatris punctata, Mirabilis nyctaginea, Muhlenbergia racemosa, Panicum virgatum, Phytolacca americana, Populus deltoides, Prunus angustifolia, Rhus aromatica, Rhus glabra, Salix sp., Salvia azurea, Schizachyrium scoparium, Solanum rostratum, Solidago rigida, Solidago sp., Sporobolus compositus, Swida drummondii, Symphoricarpos orbiculatus, Symphyotrichum falcatum, Symphyotrichum fendleri, Tephrosia virginiana, Toxicodendron radicans, Yucca glauca
Comment: Plants are erect, rhizomatous, colony-forming, deciduous shrubs with a mature size ranging from 1.5-2.5 meters tall; under optimal conditions, colonies can cover several thousand square feet. Young stems are typical rough, developing a reddish-brown color as they mature; the oldest stems ultimately become grayish brown. Leaves are opposite, simple, and deciduous. They are broadly ovate to lanceolate; leaves are rough to the touch on the upper surface with white pubescence on the underside. Leaves range from 6.0-10 cm long x 2.0-4.5 cm wide. Inflorescences are borne terminally on the ends of branches in cymose clusters with a few to 20 fruits per cluster. Fruits are almost spherical, white at maturity, and 4-7 mm in diameter.
Collector(s):