Western, or Baldwin's ironweed is the most abundant and widespread of Missouri's five species of ironweeds. Identify it by the bracts at the base of the flowerheads: they are sharply pointed and curl backward.
Like our other ironweeds, it is a tough, grayish-green, branching perennial that bears fluffy-looking clusters of reddish-purple florets.
The leaves are alternate, hairy, lance-shaped, sharply pointed at both ends, with short stems, to about 6 inches long. The undersurface is covered with evenly distributed, relatively long, often bent or tangled hairs. The margins are usually finely toothed, less commonly coarsely toothed.
The flowerheads are numerous, rose-purple (occasionally white), with 17–34 florets per head.
- The involucral bracts (overlapping, scale-like structures at the base of the heads) taper to a sharply pointed tip that curves, curls, or spreads back, usually with abundant tiny, impressed resin glands on both sides of the noticeably keeled midvein.
Blooms May–September.
Learn more about Missouri’s ironweeds on their group page.
Similar species: There are five Vernonia species in Missouri.
The two most similar to western ironweed are tall ironweed and Missouri ironweed.
- The long-pointed, backward-curling bracts at the base of the flowerheads identify western ironweed.
- Also, compared to tall and Missouri ironweeds, western ironweed tends to grow in drier habitats, begins blooming earlier in the season, and is stouter and has wider leaves.
Keep in mind that when different species of ironweeds grow near each other, they often hybridize, producing offspring that resemble a blend of their parent species.
Height: about 2–5 feet.
Scattered to common nearly statewide; less common in parts of northern Missouri and the Bootheel.
Habitat and Conservation
Occurs in upland prairies, glades, upland forests, sometimes on banks of streams and edges of ponds, also pastures, fencerows, old fields, railroads, roadsides, and other open, disturbed areas.
This is by far the most abundant ironweed species in Missouri.
Ironweeds are a familiar sight on roadsides and pastures. They often indicate overgrazing, as cattle apparently avoid eating them.
Status
Native perennial wildflower.
Human Connections
Ironweeds were used medicinally by Native Americans, mostly as pain relievers.
Some species of ironweeds are being researched for possible use in modern medicines.
Ironweeds are generally unwelcome on pastures, where their bitterness makes them distasteful to cattle.
The species name, baldwinii, honors the American botanist William Baldwin (1779–1819), who first collected the plant. Like many botanists of his time, he was also a physician.
- In addition to collecting thousands of plant specimens, he corresponded with many other botanists, sharing observations and knowledge with them.
- His major specialties included the grass family and the sedge family, which are large and challenging groups.
Baldwin suffered from ill health his whole life, but he managed to serve in the military during the War of 1812, to form sympathetic relations with Native Americans, and to go on botanical expeditions. His last ended in today's state of Missouri:
- He was assigned to the famous expedition of Major Stephen Long, which would travel up the Missouri River to explore the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains.
- In 1819, Baldwin set off with the team in Pittsburgh and boated down the Ohio River, up the Mississippi, and thence up the Missouri as far as the frontier town of Franklin (near today's Boonville, Missouri).
- Suffering from tuberculosis, he had to resign from the expedition in Franklin, where instead of convalescing, he died at age 40.
- He was buried on the banks of the Missouri River. His mourning friends would reflect that "the wildflowers of the West," which he didn't live to see, "have been blooming on his lonely grave."
- By 1844, his grave had been washed away by the Missouri River.
Today, Baldwin's many plant specimens are scattered in herbaria worldwide.
- His plant collections were used by other botanists to describe at least 109 new species.
- Many species, and one genus, of plants were named to honor Baldwin.
Ecosystem Connections
Although herbivorous mammals such as deer and rabbits apparently find the foliage distasteful, butterflies, bees, and other insects are attracted to the flowers.
Goldfinches and other seed-eating birds eat the seeds when they develop in late summer and fall.
