Chelone glabra

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}

{{speciesbox

| name = White turtlehead or balmony

| image = Chelone glabra Red River Gorge.JPG

| image_caption = Flowers

| status = G5

| status_system = TNC

|status_ref={{cite web|url=https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.158903/Chelone_glabra|title=Chelone glabra|website=NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer|author=NatureServe|publisher=NatureServe|location=Arlington, Virginia|date=3 August 2024|access-date=20 September 2024}}

| taxon = Chelone glabra

| authority = L.

}}

Chelone glabra, or white turtlehead, is a herbaceous species of plant native to North America. Its native range extends from Georgia to Newfoundland and Labrador and from Mississippi to Manitoba.{{PLANTS |symbol=CHGL2 |taxon=Chelone glabra}} Its common name comes from the appearance of its flower petals, which resemble the head of a tortoise. In fact, in Greek, chelone means "tortoise" and was the name of a nymph who refused to attend the wedding of Zeus and was turned into a turtle as punishment.{{Cite book|title=Wild plants of Eastern Canada : identifying, harvesting and using : includes recipes & medicinal uses|last=Walker|first=Marilyn|date=2008|publisher=Nimbus Pub|isbn=9781551096155|location=Halifax, N.S.|oclc=190965401}} Its natural habitat is wet areas, such as riparian forests and swamps.{{cite web |url=http://www.herbarium.unc.edu/flora.htm |title= Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States}}{{Cite journal | url = http://www.deerandforests.org/resources/Williams%20et%20al.%202000%20-%20BioCon.pdf | doi = 10.1016/S0006-3207(99)00054-3 | title = Use of turtlehead (Chelone glabra L.) and other herbaceous plants to assess intensity of white-tailed deer browsing on Allegheny Plateau riparian forests, USA | year = 2000 | author = Williams, C | journal = Biological Conservation | volume = 92 | issue = 2 | pages = 207–215 }}

Its classification at the family level has in the past been controversial,{{Cite web|url=http://vnps.org/princewilliamwildflowersociety/changes-in-taxonomy-of-chelone-glabra-and-the-traditional-scrophulariaceae-figwort-family/|title = Changes in Taxonomy of Chelone glabra and the Traditional Scrophulariaceae (Figwort Family)}} but as a result of DNA sequence studies, it is now regarded as belonging to family Plantaginaceae (the plantain family).{{Cite journal|last1=Albach|first1=D.C.|last2=Meudt|first2=H.M.|last3=Oxelman|first3=B.|title=Piecing together the "new" Plantaginaceae|journal=American Journal of Botany|year=2005|pages=297-315|volume=92|issue=2|doi=10.3732/ajb.92.2.297|pmid=21652407|doi-access=free}} In early taxonomic treatments the species was divided into a number of subspecific categories but more recent studies indicate no morphological or genetic basis for these taxonomic categories.{{cite journal|first1=Allan D.|last1=Nelson|first2=Wayne J.|last2=Elisens|year=1999|title=Polyploid evolution and biogeography in Chelone (Scrophulariaceae): morphological and isozyme evidence|journal=American Journal of Botany|publisher=Botanical Society of America|volume=86|issue=10|pages=1487–1501|doi=10.2307/2656929|doi-access=free|jstor=2656929|pmid=10523288}}