Mathias' eryngo facts for kids

The Mathias' eryngo (Eryngium mathiasiae) is a special type of flowering plant. It belongs to the Apiaceae family, which also includes carrots and parsley! This plant is sometimes called Mathias' button celery because its flowers look a bit like buttons.

This interesting plant was named after an American botanist named Mildred Esther Mathias. She was a scientist from California who studied plants.

You can only find Mathias' eryngo in one specific place: the Modoc Plateau in northeastern California. This means it is "endemic" to that area, which means it naturally grows nowhere else in the world! It likes to grow in wet spots like vernal pools (which are temporary ponds that fill with water in spring) and even in ditches.

What Does Mathias' Eryngo Look Like?

The Mathias' eryngo is a plant that stands upright, growing about 30 to 40 centimeters (about 12 to 16 inches) tall. It's a "perennial herb", meaning it lives for more than two years and doesn't have a woody stem like a tree.

Leaves of the Plant

At the bottom of the plant, there's a group of leaves that form a circle, like a rose. This is called a "basal rosette." These leaves are long and shaped like a spear, growing up to 17 centimeters (about 7 inches) long. Their edges have sharp, pointed teeth or deep cuts, which are called "serrations" or "lobes." Each leaf has a stem, called a "petiole", that connects it to the main plant.

Flowers of the Plant

The flowers of Mathias' eryngo grow in a group called an "inflorescence". Each group of flowers looks like a single flower head, even though it's made of many tiny flowers packed together. These "flower heads" are surrounded by sharp, spiny leaves called "bracts". The flower heads themselves are greenish, and they have small, white petals.