Chelone glabra*

Chelone glabra (White Turtlehead) is in the family Plantaginaceae (the plantain family), the same family that snapdragons and Penstemons are now in. It is a herbaceous plant found in wetlands and riparian forests of eastern North America with opposite, simple leaves, on stout, upright stems. The flowers are white, borne in late summer and early fall. It is used as a method of birth control by Abenaki people.

Its native range extends from Georgia to Newfoundland and Labrador and from Mississippi to Manitoba. It is the primary plant that the Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly will lay its eggs on (although the butterfly to some extent will use a few other species). C. glabra is also a foodplant for the sawflies Macrophya nigra (Norton) and Tenthredo grandis (Norton) (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae), (Stamp, 1984).

A flea beetle in the genus Dibolia (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) has also been shown to feed on C. glabra (Wilcox, 1979).

Chelone glabra is a popular browse plant for deer, although certain other plants such as Eurybia divaricata (White Wood Aster), Symphyotrichum prenanthoides (Crooked-stem Aster), and Impatiens capensis (Orange Jewelweed) are even more preferred by deer. In measuring damage to plants as a way of finding out the level of deer browsing, it is more effective to use a collection of deer browse species rather than just one.