Onosmodium molle Michx.

Western False Gromwell

© SRTurner

Family - Boraginaceae

Habit - Perennial forb with stout, woody rootstock.

Stem - Arched to ascending, to 1.2 m, sometimes multiple, sometimes branched, glabrous to densely hairy.

	Lower stem.
© SRTurner

	Upper stem.
© SRTurner

Leaves - Alternate, simple, sessile or nearly so. Lowest leaves withered and absent at flowering. Blades 2-14 cm long, 10-40 mm wide, lanceolate to ovate, angled or tapered at the base, angled or tapered to a sharply pointed tip, the upper surface densely pubescent with appressed to spreading, stiff, pustular-based hairs, the undersurface moderately to densely pubescent with softer, sometimes nonpustular-based hairs, with 2-4 prominent pairs of lateral veins, these usually strongly impressed on the upper surface and strongly ridged on the undersurface.

	Stem and leaves.
© SRTurner

	Leaf adaxial.
© SRTurner

	Leaf abaxial.
© SRTurner

Inflorescence - Often paired, terminal, appearing as dense clusters at the start of flowering, becoming elongated into scorpioid, spikelike racemes, the flowers with stalks 0.3-1.0 mm long at flowering, these elongating to 1.5-3.0 mm at fruiting, ascending, each flower subtended by a leaflike bract 10-35 mm long.

	Inflorescence.
© SRTurner

	Scorpioid inflorescence.
© SRTurner

Flowers - Calyces actinomorphic, 5-lobed nearly to base, the lobes 3.5-9.0 mm long at flowering, elongating slightly at fruiting, linear to narrowly narrowly oblanceolate, densely hairy on both surfaces, persistent and ascending at fruiting. Corollas 7-16 mm long at full flowering, tubular with a small bulge in the throat, actinomorphic, white to cream-colored or greenish yellow, hairy on the outer surface, the tube 5-12 mm long, the lobes 2-4 mm long. Stamens inserted near the tip of the corolla tube, the filaments very short, not or only slightly exserted from the corolla. Ovary deeply 4-lobed, the style elongate, strongly exserted from the corolla, persistent at fruiting, stigma capitate, shallowly 2-lobed.

	Calyces.
© SRTurner

	Flowers.
© SRTurner

Fruits - Schizocarps dividing into mostly 1 or 2 nutlets, these 2.5-5.0 mm long, ovoid, sometimes with a shallow ventral groove or an indistinct, blunt ventral ridge, white to ivory-colored or brownish-tinged, attached to the flat gynobase at the base, the attachment scar relatively large, the surface smooth or rarely minutely pitted, sometimes shiny.

	Immature fruits.
© SRTurner

	Maturing fruits.
© SRTurner

Flowering - May - August.

Habitat - Glades, savannas, forests, bluff tops, prairies, fields, roadsides, often on calcareous substrate.

Origin - Native to the U.S.

Lookalikes - Broadly, Lithospermum latifolium.

Other info. - This interesting and striking species is fairly common in Missouri, found predominantly in the southern 2/3 of the state. The subspecies pictured above, ssp. subsetosum, is quite limited in its U.S. distribution, being almost entirely confined to Missouri and states adjacent to the south. In Missouri this is the most common of the three subspecies present in the state.

Onosmodium molle is a plant of somewhat subtle beauty. The flowers are small and not particularly showy, though they are unusual and interesting up close. Perhaps the showier and more distinctive parts of the plant are the leaves, which are prominently veined. The conspicuous texture of the leaf reflects both the strongly impressed venation and the whitish appressed hairs. This was one of Dan Tenaglia's favorite Missouri species. Though its attractiveness is low key, this plant is well deserving of cultivation.

As noted above, there are three subspecies of the plant recognized in Missouri. The ssp. subsetosum pictured above has stems which are glabrous near the base of the plant and hairy near their tips. The other forms, ssp. hispidissimum and ssp. occidentale, have uniformly hairy stems, and differ in other aspects of fruits and leaf hairs. Onosmodium taxonomy is somewhat unsettled, and some authors have elevated these forms to the species level and placed them in the genus Lithospermum. According to this alternative taxonomy, the name applied to the plant shown on this page is Lithospermum subsetosum.

Photographs taken at Cuivre River State Park, Lincoln County, MO, 6-13-2009, St. Joe State Park, St. Francois County, MO, 5-25-2010 and 6-10-2013, Shaw Nature Reserve, Franklin County, MO, 6-18-2011 and 8-21-2021, and Little Lost Creek Conservation Area, Warren County, MO, 6-3-2018 and 6-10-2019 (SRTurner).