This native perennial grows to 6 feet and taller. The erect stem is purple (A). The lance-shaped leaves are in whorls of 4-5. The tiny purplish-pink flowers are found in flattened clusters at the top of the stems and branches (B). Differentiated from the other Bonesets and Joe-Pye weeds by its purple stem, whorled leaves and purplish-pink flower clusters.
Found in moist floodplains, flowering from July through September. In Fontenelle Forest, common, for instance off the boardwalk at the base of Handsome Hollow Trail.
A man named Joe-Pye, who lived on the East Coast during the 19th Century, had supposedly used the roots of these plants to induce sweating in typhus cases. Also known as Purple Boneset.
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