Baldwin's Ironweed

Vernonia interior Small, Bull. Torrey Club 27: 279. 1900
Stems erect, simple to the inflorescence, 1-2 m. tall, finely and closely pubescent; leafblades firm, elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, 6-20 cm. long, 2-6 cm. wide, acuminate, sharply serrate, narrowed to the base, glabrous to scabrellate above, thinly tomentose to nearly glabrous and resinous-dotted beneath; inflorescence loose, 1-3 dm. wide, bearing numerous 21-(18-29-)flowered heads; involucre narrowly campanulate, 6-7 mm. high; scales regularly imbricate, purple or green with purple margin, appressed at base, erect or slightly spreading, the outer triangular, sharply acute to cuspidate, the inner elongate, sharply acute to acuminate, resinous on the back, with prominent carinate midvein; achenes puberulent on the ribs, glandular in the furrows, 3 mm. long; pappus purple, the bristles 6 mm. long, the outer scales narrowly linear.
Type locality: Jackson County, Missouri.
Distribution: Iowa and eastern Nebraska to Arkansas and Texas.