Parnassia glauca

Native

Wet. Calcareous bogs, meadows, shores.

August to October

White with dark green veins

8″ to 16″

This is a 8″ to 16″ tall, erect, perennial forb that rises from a taproot rhizome caudex.

Basal leaves are on long leaf stalks and form a rosette. They are stiff, leathery, hairless, egg-shaped to almost circular, 1⅛″ to 2″ long, and ⅝″ to 1¾″ wide. They are always longer than wide. The base is broadly rounded or slightly heart-shaped. The margins are untoothed.

A single, long, hairless flowering stem rises from the rosette of basal leaves. There is usually one leaf at or well below the middle of the stem. The stem leaf similar to basal leaves only smaller. It is stalkless or on a short stalk, but it does not clasp the stem.

The inflorescence is a single flower held erect at the end of the stem.

The flowers are ¾″ to 1½″ wide. Each flower has 5 green sepals and 5 white, ⅜″ to 11 ⁄16″ long petals with conspicuous, dark green veins. The 5 center veins of each petal are usually unbranched. There are 5 white stamens with brown anthers. There are also 5 white sterile stamens (staminodes) that are divided into 3 filaments for 3 ⁄5 or 4 ⁄5 of their length, each filament topped with an anther reduced to a gland. The staminodes are a little shorter than the stamens.

The fruit is a 4-valved capsule with numerous seeds.

Marsh grass of Parnassus (Parnassia palustris var. tenuis) has a larger stem leaf, as large as the basal leaves, which clasps the stem. The staminodes are green or yellow, and are divided near the tip into 9 to 23 short, slender filaments. It is found in the northern two-thirds of the state.

Smallflower grass of Parnassus (Parnassia palustris var. parviflora) has leaves that taper at the base to the leaf stalk. The flowers are smaller, ½″ to ¾″ wide. The petals are ¼″ to ⅜″ long. The staminodes are green or yellow, and are divided near the tip into 5 to 9, usually 7, short, slender filaments. It is found in the northern two-thirds of the state.