Who it feeds
The main native host plant for the Baltimore checkerspot, Maryland's state butterfly, whose caterpillars overwinter in webs on it. The butterfly also uses English plantain, hairy beardtongue, and false foxglove. Bumble bees force their way into the closed flowers, one of the best sights of late summer.
Host plant for: Baltimore checkerspot.
What it does for the place
A wetland and streambank plant that flowers in the September shade of stream corridors where few other natives bloom.
The story
Named for the flower's resemblance to a turtle's head; the genus Chelone is Greek for tortoise, from a nymph turned into one for skipping Zeus's wedding. Cherokee and other healers used it for worms and skin conditions.
Worth knowing
- Watch a bumble bee disappear entirely inside a flower and back out coated in pollen.
- Deer usually avoid it.
- It grows in ordinary moist garden soil, not just wetlands.
Saving its seed
Ripe: Oct, Nov. Capsules brown and split; flat winged seeds.
Collect: Cut spikes, shake out.
Sow: Winter-sow outdoors (jugs or flats) any time after the first hard freeze. Give it about 90 days of cold-moist stratification. Best planted outdoors in fall (Prairie Moon code M).
Cold-stratification days follow Prairie Moon Nursery's January 2026 germination codes where that nursery lists the species; others follow common nursery practice. Protocols vary with seed lot and supplier, so check your seed packet.
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