Rattle Snake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium) is a longtime favorite. It is striking despite its dramatic name. It is in the carrot family and is native to Missouri's tall grass prairies. Here you can see it various stages of bloom.
Although the aggregation of many small flowers in dense, hemispherical heads makes rattlesnake master look like a thistle or other member of Compositae, it is unrelated to those plants. Instead, rattlesnake master is a member of the carrot family (Apiaceae or Umbelliferae). Break or crush a leaf, and the aroma will give it away. Rattlesnake master contains many of the same oils and other secondary compounds as parsley, carrot, and parsnip. The reproductive parts of rattlesnake master also indicate its relationship with carrots, particularly the paired schizocarp fruit.
Of course, the name "rattlesnake master" prompts all kinds of suggestions as to potential medical uses. The best documented use, made by John Adair during the 1700s, describes the use of the plant's sap as a preventative to snakebite, used during ceremonial handling of rattlesnakes. The sap and roots were also used to treat a wide variety of maladies, and as a diuretic. The Mesquakies used it in their ceremonial rattlesnake dance and used the roots to treat rattlesnake bites. The bristly flower heads are arranged like a pitchfork, suggesting a possible use as a snake stick to pin down the head of a rattlesnake.
Rattlesnake Master, December
In semblance of brittleness it stands
still
unbowed, dry
reedy rod rising
to burry crown revealing nothing
even to breezes that demand
it speak forth its cadence of parched crackles
still it stands
confronting crisp winter
staring in its bleak eye the season
bent on bringing down lesser, larger limbs
unfit to bear the strain of snow
still rigid
unhostile in plain acceptance—
this is being
this is nothing more than being—
its implied dare
reach, seize, snap
hints at the plunderer's fate
the bloodied hands
forced open in the attack
– Katy Scrogin
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