Today’s post features another recent blooming wildflower … the Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium), also known as Yucca-leaf Eryngo and Button Snakeroot. I have regularly observed this unique wildflower growing at the nearby Missouri prairie for the past 3 years. And each time, I’m still in awe at the uniqueness of this rather strange-looking wildflower. Here is an image I made a couple of years ago, showing a nice clump of Rattlesnake Master:
And here are a few images I’ve made in the past few days, showing more detail in the flowers and stems:
The Rattlesnake Master is another wildflower that grows in glades, prairies, and rocky open woods statewide, except for the southeast lowlands of Missouri. The plant grows to ~4 feet tall. Flowers grow in dense, global heads and are greenish in color. The leaves are “yucca-like”, with the lower ones growing to 3 feet long, bluish and with small spines (shown in the last image, above). An extract is supposed to be effective against snake poison, hence the “snakeroot” name.