UMBELLIFERAE PARSLEY FAMILY 
RATTLESNAKE MASTER. BUTTON SNAKEROOT 
Eryngium yuccifolium Michx. 
The Rattlesnake Master or Button Snakeroot is common 
in open places in all prairie portions of the state. It occurs 
locally as far east as Connecticut and New Jersey, as far south 
as Florida and Texas, and west 
to South Dakota and Kansas. It 
differs markedly from other mem- 
bers of the family in that the 
leaves are not compound, and the 
flowers are not in umbels. 
This is a smooth stout plant 
whose 2-6-foot stem is unbranched 
or branched near the top. The 
stiff spiny-toothed leaves are 
mostly clasping at the base and 
the lower may be 3 feet long, 
whereas the upper are much 
smaller. All are parallel veined 
and thick. 
The small white flowers bloom from June to 
September. Each is produced in the axil of a 
bract, in a dense head topping the stem, or in 
the axil of an upper leaf which has been reduced 
to a bract. The 5 calyx teeth are rigid and sharp 
pointed. The 5 white petals are erect, have long 
incurved tips and are mounted on the calyx. 
The disk above the ovary, to which the § sta- 
mens are attached, is relatively large and con- 
spicuous, and the 2 styles are long and slender. 
The scaly fruits contain 2 seeds each. 
Here, by the broken, moldering wall, 
Where still the tiger lilies ride, Cc 
Once grew the crown imperial, 
The tall blue larkspur, white Queen Margaret, 
Prince’s feather, and mourning bride. 
Beyond their pale, a humbler throng, 
Grew bouncing bet and columbine; 
The mountain fringe ran all along 
The thick-set hedge of cinnamon roses, 
And overhung the eglantine. 
A Puritan Lady’s Garden—SaraH N. CLEGHORN 
215 
