Sweet Joe-pye-weed

Flowering heads are small, and have about 5 to 7, lavender to purple disc flowers. Ray flowers are absent. Involucral bracts are lance-shaped, and some are tinted purple. The inflorescence is branched, and bears a dense cluster of small flowering heads. Viewed from the side, the inflorescence appears cone-shaped. Leaves occur in whorls along the length of the stem. Each whorl is made up of 3 to 5 lance-shaped leaves, that attach in radial fashion, around the same point on the stem. The point of attachment is conspicuously purple. Whorls are about 10 to 12 cm apart. Leaves in the whorl have conspicuous teeth, are pinnately veined, and attach by winged petioles. Leaf margins may be re-curved near the leaf tip. This species is similar to E. fistulosum, but differs from it by having a solid stem (containing pith), rather than a hollow stem (lacking pith), and by having leaves in whorls of 3 - 5, rather than 4 - 6. It blooms from July through September in woodland openings. Native to N. A.