Rush Leaf Eryngo

Eryngium petiolatum Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 259. 1832
Eryngium petiolatum var. juncifolium A. Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 8: 385. 1872.
Slender, caulescent, glabrous perennials, 2-5 dm. high, from a cluster of fibrous roots, the stems erect or ascending, branching; basal leaves lanceolate to oval, 2-7 cm. long, 0.5-1 cm. broad, acuminate at the apex, remotely to coarsely spinulose-serrate, the venation reticulate, or the blades obsolete; petioles slender, elongate, septate, 1-4 dm. long, greatly exceeding the blades; cauline leaves like the basal but short-petiolate or sessile, spinulose-serrate, reduced above; inflorescence cymose, the heads small, numerous, short-pedunculate, the flowers numerous; heads globose, 5-8 mm. in diameter; bracts 8-12, rigid, linear, 10-15 mm. long, subulate, obscurely callous-margined and spinose-ciliate with 4-6 spines, broadly dilated and scarious-margined at the base, about twice as long as the heads; bractlets like the bracts, 5-8 mm. long, with 2-5 spines, the dilated scarious base partially enfolding the flower and fruit, exceeding the fruit; coma wanting; sepals lanceolate, 3 mm. long, acuminate, entire or rarely few-toothed; petals obovate, 1.5 mm. long; styles a little shorter than the sepals; fruit oblongovoid, 2 mm. long, densely covered with depressed, flat, white, lanceolate-acuminate scales, 1-1.5 mm. long.
Type locality: Moist soils on the plains of the Multnomah [Willamette] River, Oregon, Douglas.
Distribution: Dried swales; western Oregon and contiguous Washington (Eastwood 2120,