Late May Roadside Flowers

There are still over twenty species of wildflowers blooming in the woods, albeit most aren't showy.  But because the woodland trails are muddy now and the mosquitoes are thick, you may prefer to stalk roadside flowers.

Dame's Rocket, Hesperis matronales

Various colors of Dame's Rocket

Dame's Rocket up close; note foour petals to each flower

Dame's Rockets are attractive roadside wildflowers, but they the USDA Plant Database lists as an invasive weed; some states prohibit gardeners from planting it.  It has spread throughout the U.S.A., except a few southern states.  Dame's Rocket are easy to confuse with Phlox because they tend to be the same size and color, but it has 4 petals and Phlox has five.

Tansy Ragwort, Senecio jacobea

The  USDA Plant Database also lists Tansy Ragwort, or "Stinking Willie", as a prohibited, noxious weed in several states.  It grows in wet ditches and fields.

Honeysuckle bush, Lonicera species

Honeysuckle up close

Several Honeysuckle species are invasive in woodlands and old fields.

Yellow Goatsbeard, Tragopogon pratensis

Yellow Goatsbeard up close

Yellow Goatsbeard is another introduced, i.e., non-native, plant, although it tends not to be invasive.

Campion, Silene latifolia

Campion (above) and Oxeye Daisy (below) are other introduced plants common to roadsides.

Oxyeye Daisy, Leucanthemum vulgare

Not all roadside flowers are introduced or invasive.  Common Fleabane is a native plant that frequently grows along roads.

Common Fleabane, Erigeron phiadelphicus

Wild Geranium, Virginia Waterleaf. False Solomon/s Seal and Fleabane are all native, woodland plants that sometimes grow along roadsides.

Wild Geranium, Geranium maculatum

Wild Geranium

False Solomon's Seal, Maianthemum racemosum

Virginia Waterleaf, IHydrophyllum virginianum

May 27, 2011 Sopping Wet Woods: Bender Memorial Forest ACRES

ACRES Bender Memorial Forest, on the Elkhart River in Noble County, has several sections that are permanently wet, but now the entire forest is wet.  Some sections of the trail are under water --- knee boots are a necessity. 

Yellow Water Buttercup partially submerged

Yellow Water Buttercup, Ranunculus flabellaris

A large spread of Yellow Water Buttercup is blooming in the lowest section of the forest, always wet; but the water is deeper than any other time I've tramped around in it and there are more Yellow Water Buttercup than I've ever seen.  Most of the leaves are submerged; the flowers stick out of the water several inches.

Tufted Loosestrife is another yellow flower blooming in the same wet environment as the Yellow Water Butercup.  

Tufted Loosestrife, Lysimachia thrysiflora

Blue Flag, Iris virginica

Blue Flag, also growing in standing water, is just beginning to bloom.  It is a native Iris.

Green Dragon, Arisaema dracontium

Green Dragon, Arisaema dracontium, a close cousin of Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum, most always grows in wet areas, although not in standing water.  Both have a spathe that wraps around the spadix, but the Green Dragon's spadix sticks out 3-4 inches.

American Gromwell, Lithospremum latiflolium

American Gromwell grows near Green Dragon at Bender Forest.  Although its 1/4 inch yellow flowers are unremarkable, it is an uncommon, interesting native plant.   According to the USDA Plant Database, Noble County is the only northeastern Indiana county where it has been reported; it is on the endangered list in Pennsylvania and Maryland, but not Indiana.

Two species of Waterleaf are blooming at Bender.  Both are in the low wet parts of the forest and on the well-drained slopes.

Virginia Waterleaf,  Hydrophyllum virginianum

Broad-Leaved Waterleaf, Hydrophyllum canadense

Broad-Leaved Waterleaf up close

American Columbo is a mysterious plant that grows on a south-facing wooded slope in Bender Forest.   Each year the plant grows a whorl of large basal leaves, and occasionally if flowers about this time of year.  This year none of the more than fifty plants bloomed.

American Colombo basal leaves, Frasera caroliniensis

 A variety of ferns grow at Bender; several species grow in the wettest sections, but the Maidenhair Fern grows on the well-drained slopes.  Ferns reproduce by spores, rather than by flowers and seeds.

Northern Madienhair Fern, Adiatum pedatum

This large beetle was immobile on this cool, cloudy day.

Horse Gentian, Triosteum aurantiacum

The Horse Gentian in the photo above is growing in an old field at the edge of the forest.  The yellow flowers will develop into orange fruits in Fall.

Orange fruits of Horse Gentian

Below please find the complete list of native wildflowers I found in bloom at Bender Forest today:

Yellow Water Buttercup, Ranunculus flabellaris
Tufted Loosestrife, Lysimachia thyrsiflora
Blue Flag, Iris virginica 
Green Dragon, Arisaema dracontium
Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum

Virginia Waterleaf, Hydrophyllum viriginianum
American Gromwell, Lithospermum latifloim
Broad-Leaved Waterlead, Hydrophyllum canadense
Orange-Fruited Horse Gentian, Triosteum aurantiacum
May-Apple, Podophyllum peltatum
Wild Geranium, Geranium maculatum
Clustered Snakeroot, Sanicula gregaria
Aniseroot,  Osmorhiza longistylis
Blue Phlox, Phlox divaricata
Common Fleabane, Erigeron philadelphicus
Golden Ragwort, Packera aurea
Cream Violet, Viola striata
False Solomon's Seal, Maianthemum racemosum
Hairy Solomon's Seal, Polygonatum pubescens
Wild Ginger, Asarum canadense
Doll's Eyes, Actaea pachypoda

May 22, 2011 Thirty Miles for One Flower

You may question the wisdom of driving thirty miles to see one flower that I haven't seen in bloom yet this year.  It may not be wise, but I succumbed anyway and drove to ACRES Glenwood Preserve near Clunette in Koskiosko County.  The preserve includes a wet woods predominated by silver maple, a drier oak-hickory wodds and a sphagnum bog.  Not much is blooming in the bog yet, and the oak woods has flowers that we've seen many places already this season.  It's the wet woods that has the flower I drove thirty miles to see.

A wet woods with many Silver Maples

Canada Mayflower is a fine flower, but hardly spectacular.  Here it is.

Three shots of Canada Mayflower, Maianthemum canadense

Only a few other flowers, also unspectacular, are in bloom now in the wet woods.

Sweet Cicely, Osmorhiza longistylus

Clustered Snakeroot, Sanicula odorat

Sphagnum bog

I'll go back to ACRES Glenwood Preserve later in the summer to see what is blooming in the bog.  It is an interesting plant community that grows over the top of a lake; it is bouncy when you walk on the mat of plants that cover it. 

May 21, 2011 Late Arrivals

In the past week new flowers came into bloom.  Today in a walk around Bowen Lake at Chain O' Lakes State Park there were five flowers we haven't shown yet in the blog.  They are some of the latest of  woodland spring flowers.  As the tree leaf canopy gets heavier, less light reaches the forest floor, and fewer species bloom.

Blue-Eyed Grass, Sisyrinchium angustifolium

Blue-Eyed Grass is actually a small (1/2 inch flower diameter) Iris, not a grass, even though the leaves look like grass.

Doll's-Eyes, Actaea pachypoda

Dolls-Eyes' tiny flowers cluster at the end of the stem.  Their name comes from their late summer white berry with a black spot, which looks like dolls eyes.

Dolls-Eyes berries, August 16, 2007

Wild Columbine isn't in many of the local woods we frequent.  I was happy to find it today.

Wild Columbine, Aguilegia canadensis

Wild Columbine up close

Several species of Solomon's Seal flowers bloom locally in May: Hairy Solomon's Seal, Smooth Solomon's Seal, False Solomon's Seal and Starry FalseSolomon's seal, which is the least common.  All four were flowering today on the Bowen Lake trail.  Below is Starry False Solomon's Seal

Starry False Solomon's Seal, Maianthemum stellatum

Green Dragon is a close relative of Jack-in-the Pulpit.  Jack is about done for the season, but the Green Dragon is at its peak.  This is mot a common flower and is easy to miss.  It grows in wet environments.  We've seen it in only 4-5 local woods.

Green Dragon, Arisaema dracontium

Notice the long thin spadix that sticks out of the spathe like a tongue.

Below are the native flowers in bloom, other than those pictured above:

Golden Ragwort, Packera aurea
Wild Geranium,  Geranium maculatum
Wild Phlox, Phlox divaricata
Sweet Cicely, Osmorhiza species
May-Apple, Podophyllum peltatum
Hairy Solomon's Seal, Polygonatum pubescens
Smooth Solomon's Seal, Polygonatum biflorum
False Solomon's Seal, Maianthemum racemosum
Common Blue Violet, Viola sororia
Cleavers, Galium aparine
Large-Flowered Trillium, T, grandiflorum  (almost over)
Rue Anemone, Thalictrum thalictroides

 

May 17, 2011 Trillium's Fading - What's Next?

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Late stage of Large-Flowered Trillium, T. grandiflorum

Impressive shows of Large-Flowered Trillium are fading.  Most of the large white flowers at River Preserve County Park - Benton have turned pink and are shriveling.  What's next?  There won't likely be any shows with the same impact this spring, but there will still be nice displays of a variety of flowers.  Today at River Preserve County Park - Benton there were nice panoramas of trees and  flowers.

Red Bud trees along the canal at River Preserve County Park

A mixed bouquet below the Benton Spillway

No single species dominates now, as Large-Flowered Trillium did.  The display above includes white Sweet Cicely, pink Wild Geranium and gold Ragwort.  There are big spreads of Sweet Cicely, but the heads of small, lacy white flowers aren't showy.

Sweet Cicely, Osmorhiza species

Jacob's Ladder, Polemonium reptans

Flowers of Jacob's Ladder, close up.

According to the USDA Plant Database, Jacob's Ladder, Polemonium reptans, grows in almost all Indiana counties, but we have only seen it in three woods, including River Preserve County Park.  "Ladder" evidently comes from the arrangement of leaflets on the leaves.

Miami-Mist, Phacelia purshi

Miami-Mist close-up

 Miami-Mist is another uncommon, but not rare, plant at River Preserve County Park.  It grows along the wooded trail north of the canal, not far from the dam.

Dame's Rocket has just begun flowering.  Within a week or two there will be big shows of it along roads and trails.  It is an escapee from gardens that grows in the wild, including at the River Preserve.
Dame's Rocket is sometimes mistakenly called Phlox.  Dames' Rocket has four petals, but Phlox has five.  Compare the two below.

Dames Rocket,  Hesperis matronalis

Wild Phlox, Phlox divaricata

Flowers blooming at River Preserve County Park - Benton today were---
Sweet Cicely, Osmorhiza species
Spreading Jacob's Ladder, Polemonium reptans
Miami-Mist, Phacelia purshii
Golden Ragwort, Packera aurea
Wild Geranium, Geranium maculatum
Blue Phlox, Phlox divaricata
Dame's Rocket, Hesperis matronalis (Not native)
Mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum
Solomon's Seal, Polygonatum pubescens
False Solomon's Seal, Maianthemum racemosum
Clustered Snakeroot,  Sanicula gregaria 
Common Blue Violet, Viola sororia
Cream Violet,  Viola striata
Buttercup, Ranunculus species
Cleavers, Galium aparine
Wild Ginger, Asarum canadense
Prickly Gooseberry, Ribes cynosbati
False Rue Anemone, Enemion biternatum
Toad Trillium, Trillium sessile
Large-flowered Trillium, T. grandiflorum