Rattlesnake Master, Eryngium yuccifolium

Rattlesnake Master, Eryngium yuccifolium

Consortium of Midwest Herbaria

Seeds collected from property

Type: Herbaceous perennialFamily: Apiaceae

Native Range: United States
Zone: 3 to 8
Height: 4.00 to 5.00 feet
Spread: 2.00 to 3.00 feet
Bloom Time: June to September
Bloom Description: Greenish-white
Sun: Full sun
Water: Dry to medium
Maintenance: Low
Flower: Showy
Tolerate: Drought, Erosion, Clay Soil, Dry Soil, 

    Shallow-Rocky Soil

Easily grown in average, dry to medium, well-drained soils in full sun. Prefers dryish, sandy soils. Self-seeds in optimum growing conditions. Plants tend to open up and sprawl if grown in overly fertile soils or in anything less than full sun. This is a taprooted plant which transplants poorly and is best left undisturbed once established.

Eryngium yuccifolium, commonly called rattlesnake-master or button snake-root, is a Missouri native plant which occurs in rocky woods, prairies and glades throughout the State and was a common plant of the tallgrass prairie. Most members of the parsley/carrot family (Apiaceae) have finely cut foliage and flowers in domed umbels. Not so with rattlesnake-master which features basal rosettes of parallel-veined, bristly-edged, sword-shaped, medium green leaves (to 3' long) resembling those of yucca (lily family) and tiny, stemless, greenish-white flowers tightly packed into globular, 1" diameter heads resembling thistles (composite family). Flower heads appear in branched clusters at the top of smooth stiff stems typically rising to 3-4' (less frequently to 5-6') tall from the centers of the rosettes. Flower heads are subtended by whitish, pointed bracts.

Genus name comes from an ancient Greek name used by Theophrastus for a plant which grew in Greece (probably Eryngium campestre) or is a Greek reference to the prickly or spiny nature of plants in this genus.

Specific epithet is in reference to leaves that look like Yucca.

Common name is in reference to a former use of this plant as a treatment for rattlesnake bite. (Missouri Botanical Garden)