BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Dracocephalum parviflorum | American Dragonhead 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
American dragonhead is a native annual, biennial, or short-lived
perennial forb.  Solitary or clustered stems arise from a taproot and
are 6 to 32 inches (15-80 cm) tall [8].  Leaves are coarsely serrate and
flowers are crowded in a dense terminal or axillary cluster.  The fruits
are nutlets [29].  


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Hemicryptophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
American dragonhead is a seedbanking species.  Seeds are large and are
not wind-dispersed.  Buried seeds remain viable for a long period of
time [13].  Seeds require fire or other disturbance for germination
[20].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
American dragonhead commonly grows on open, moist sites [8,17,20] and in
disturbed areas [9,15,18].  In the Great Plains it grows on gravelly
soils along streams, in open woodlands, or on moist wooded hillsides
[15].  In the Northeast, American dragonhead is found on rocky or
gravelly calcareous soils in recently cleared areas [12].  It occurs
from 4,500 to 10,000 feet (1,360-3,000 m) elevation in Colorado [16],
and from 4,850 to 10,890 feet (1,470-3,300 m) elevation in Utah [29].

Some species commonly associated with American dragonhead include russet
buffaloberry (Shepherdia canadensis), Oregon-grape (Mahonia repens),
snowberry (Symphoricarpos spp.), serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.), western
yarrow (Achillea millefolium), strawberry (Fragaria spp.), heartleaf
arnica (Arnica cordifolia), fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium), Bicknell
geranium (Geranium bicknellii), and wild hollyhock (Iliamna rivularis)
[1,4].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Obligate Initial Community Species

American dragonhead is prominent in initial or early successional
communities following disturbance [26].  Its seedbanking ability allows
colonization of disturbed areas even when no parent plants are present
[13].  American dragonhead has usually disappeared or declined in
importance within the first few years following disturbance [4].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
American dragonhead flowers from June to August in the Intermountain
region [8], and from June to September in the Great Plains [15].

Related categories for Species: Dracocephalum parviflorum | American Dragonhead