Yellow Screwstem

Description

Flowers may be single but are more typically clustered in raceme-like panicles in the upper plant, the branches and flower stalks mostly erect. Flowers are about 1/8 inch long, erect, short to long stalked, greenish white to pale yellow, egg to bell shaped, with 4 short lance-shaped sepals at the base and 4 oblong petals that are typically pressed close against the central ovary, sometimes flaring a bit at the tip. A stout green stigma protrudes in the center.Leaves are opposite and scale like, widely spaced on the upper stem and more closely spaced near the base. Stems are smooth, stiff and wiry, unbranched except in the flower cluster, and often twisted (hence one of its common names).