NC Native Plant Society:
Plant Details

Marshallia legrandii

Oak-barrens Barbara's Buttons, Tall Barbara's Buttons

Scientific Name:	Marshallia legrandii
Genus:	Marsallia
Species Epithet:	legrandii
Common Name:	Oak-barrens Barbara's Buttons, Tall Barbara's Buttons
Plant Type	Herb/Wildflower
Life Cycle	Perennial
Plant Family	Asteraceae (Aster Family)
Native/Alien:	NC Native
Invasive Status:	^(*Key)
Size:	1-3 ft.
Bloom Color(s):	Purple
Light:	Sun - 6 or more hours of sun per day
Soil Moisture:	Dry
Bloom Time:	May, June
Growing Area:	Piedmont
Habitat Description:	Diabase barrens and fire-maintained woodlands over greenstone. This species is known from two extant and two extirpated populations, in Granville County, NC and Halifax Co. VA, where associated with numerous rare and disjunct taxa of prairie or barren affinities. Declining, one of the two known locations for this taxon in NC has been extirpated. Since this species is threatened by the suppression of the natural fire regime associated with urbanization, it is expected that this species may continue to decline.
Leaf Arrangement:	Alternate, Basal
Leaf Retention:	Deciduous
Leaf Type:	Leaves veined, not needle-like or scale-like
Leaf Form:	Simple
Life Cycle:	Perennial
Wildlife Value:	Has some wildlife value
Landscape Value:	Recommended and Available
State Rank:	S1: Critically imperiled ^(*Key)
Global Rank:	G1 - Critically imperiled ^(*Key)
State Status:	E: Endangered ^(*Key)
Marshallia legrandii is a recently described species first recognized as unique by North Carolina Natural Heritage Program biologist Harry LeGrand Jr. near Butner, North Carolina. Will Stuart
Flowers lavender, discoid (as with all Marshallia species, lacking ray flowers), florets densely packed. Lobes of the florets often curled. Will Stuart
Leaves basal and cauline, numerous, alternate, slender, lanceolate to 25 cm long This image was taken at the North Carolina Botanical Gardens before the species was officially named. Will Stuart
Close-up of inflorescence with most of the disk florets fully opened Granville County, NC Bettina Darveaux
Links:	USDA PLANTS Database Record http://www.phytoneuron.net/105PhytoN-Marshallia.pdf