ADDISONIA 11 
(Plate 166) 
VERNONIA CRINITA 
Great Ironweed 
Native of the Ozark Region of the United States 
Family CARDUACEAE THISTLE Family 
Vernonia crinita Raf. New Fl. 4:77. 1838. 
Vernonia arkansana DC. Prodr. 7: 264. 1838. 
Cacalia arkansana Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 969. 1891. 
The great ironweed is one of a large group of species widely 
distributed over most of temperate and tropical America and the 
warmer parts of the Old World. Several others occur in the 
eastern United States, but the great ironweed is perhaps the largest 
species. It is at home in open woods and fields throughout the 
Ozark Mountain region from Missouri to Oklahoma, and thrives on 
dry, barren and stony soil, but reaches its largest size in more 
favorable situations. The plant is a perennial, persisting from 
year to year, and throwing up each successive summer a larger 
number of stems from the base. The first of the showy red-purple 
flower-heads open in midsummer, but are somewhat concealed by 
the leaves. The later ones are more exposed, until by the end of 
August the plant is a showy feature in its native haunts or in the 
herbaceous border. After the fruit has matured and scattered, 
the leafless stems, topped with the straw-colored remnants of the 
flower-heads, persist through the winter and are by no means 
unattractive in this condition. 
None of the ironweeds has become popular in cultivation because 
of their large size and coarse texture, rendering them poorly adapted 
to the small garden. The wild plants usually grow in masses, 
lining the roadsides or sometimes covering acres of hillside, meadow, 
or open forest, and in such circumstances are very striking. The 
great ironweed is especially adapted to poor soil, and should be 
naturalized along walls and fences, in front of the shrub border at 
the edge of dry woods, and in open places and clearings in the 
forest. It is not injured by extreme cold in winter or by continued 
drought in summer, and once established will maintain itself 
without further attention and without danger of becoming a pest. 
The great ironweed is an erect, herbaceous plant, reaching a 
height of three to six feet or in unusually favorable conditions as 
much as ten feet. The stout, tough stem is unbranched below, 
