Mary Scott Community Orchard & Living Classroom
Richmond, Indiana

Mary Scott Community Orchard & Living Classroom Richmond, IndianaMary Scott Community Orchard & Living Classroom Richmond, IndianaMary Scott Community Orchard & Living Classroom Richmond, Indiana

Mary Scott Community Orchard & Living Classroom
Richmond, Indiana

Mary Scott Community Orchard & Living Classroom Richmond, IndianaMary Scott Community Orchard & Living Classroom Richmond, IndianaMary Scott Community Orchard & Living Classroom Richmond, Indiana
  • Home
  • A Living Classroom
    • Fruit Trees and Varieties
    • Pollinator Garden
    • Educational Standards
  • A Community Space
    • In the News!
    • Mary Scott Legacy
    • Photo Gallery
    • Information & Resources
    • Advisory Board
    • Community Support
  • Contact
  • Volunteering
  • More
    • Home
    • A Living Classroom
      • Fruit Trees and Varieties
      • Pollinator Garden
      • Educational Standards
    • A Community Space
      • In the News!
      • Mary Scott Legacy
      • Photo Gallery
      • Information & Resources
      • Advisory Board
      • Community Support
    • Contact
    • Volunteering
  • Home
  • A Living Classroom
  • A Community Space
  • Contact
  • Volunteering

Rattlesnake Master: (Eryngium yuccifolium L.)

Flowers

One flower stalk can have between ten and forty flowerheads, with each flowerhead averaging 106 individual flowers. Flowerheads are dense, ball-shaped, about 1 inch wide, and subtended by bracts. Individual flowers are tiny, greenish white, each with its own minute bract. 

Fruits

Seed is dark brown, 3-sided, just under 1/8 inch long, the layered remains of the floral bracts attached at the top on 2 sides with the third side smooth and flat.

Leaves

Leaves yucca- or agave-like, the lower ones to 3 feet long, much shorter along the stems, bluish, linear, parallel veined, with small spines along the margins.

Habitats

 Occurs in upland prairies, glades, savannas, and rocky openings of moist to dry upland forests.  

Fun Facts

Rattlesnake master gets its common name from the erroneous belief that the roots of this plant could be used to cure rattlesnake bites.


In the prairie or in the garden, rattlesnake master is a favorite of native insects. Monarch butterflies, skippers, and other butterflies visit the flower heads for nectar. Soldier beetles visit the flowers to eat pollen; major pollinators include a diversity of bees, wasps, and flies.


**** A single plant can produce between 1,060 and 4,240 individual flowers! Investigate the orchard’s pollinator garden and count the number of Rattlesnake master plants that you can observe.   

Mary Scott Community Orchard

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