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LIFE CYCLE:  Perennial; reproduces by seeds and new shoots from taproot; flowers from June to September.

MAJOR CHARACTERISTICS*: Stems leafless, with long, slender flower spike at top from 2 to 10 inches long (A); leaves are broad, somewhat egg-shaped (B), with prominent veins and arranged in a basal rosette at the soil surface; seeds compressed along half the length of seed stalk.