There are so many plants blooming right now that I thought I’d do two wildflower posts in a row to try and keep up with them all. I thought I’d also show a few of the places I go to regularly as well as the plants I find in them. Most of the places have no real name so I just call them the pond, stream, path, bog, or meadow.
I visited a local unnamed beaver pond hoping to find some native orchids. Other than pink lady’s slippers (Cypripedium acaule,) which are still blooming off in the drier parts of this tract, I didn’t see any. Most of the pink lady’s slippers look like this one now, with seed pods forming.
Hedge bindweed (Calystegia sepium) was blooming in a sunny spot. This plant is often confused with wild morning glory, but the leaves are very different. A good pocket field guide is the simplest way to identify them.
The Hairy Vetch (Vicia vilosa ) was running rampant all through the tall grasses and shrubs. This is another plant that is often mistaken for something else. I’ve even seen it called crown vetch (Coronilla variaon) on various websites, but the two flowers are very different. Tracy at the Season’s Flow blog recently showed a good picture of crown vetch that can be seen by clicking here. Hairy vetch is easily confused with cow vetch, which looks very similar but doesn’t have fine hairs on its stems and doesn’t grow in New Hampshire. Hairy vetch is a native of Europe and Asia and is used as a cover crop or for livestock forage. Bumblebees love it.
The daisy fleabane (Erigeron strigosus) is still blooming strongly and should continue right up until fall, when it will be confused with asters. The flower on the left had a visitor that I didn’t see when I was taking the picture. Daisy fleabane can be mistaken for common fleabane (Erigeron philadelphicus,) but the leaves clasp the stem on common fleabane and do not on daisy fleabane. I regularly find fleabane growing in sunny spots quite deep in the woods where you wouldn’t expect it to be.
I decided to leave the boggy areas and head for dry ground. Many wildflowers grow along this path and in the surrounding forest, so it is one of my favorite places.
Blue bead lily (Clintonia borealis ) grows in these woods and is just setting fruit. Before long these will be bright blue berries that aren’t fit for eating, but are a pleasure to see.
Our native Northern Bush Honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera) isn’t rare but it is uncommon in my experience. It also isn’t a true honeysuckle. Unlike a true 6-8 foot tall honeysuckle this little plant might reach 3 feet under perfect growing conditions, but is usually much shorter. The flowers are small but grow in clusters at the ends of branches and are long lasting. They change colors, going from greenish yellow to orange and then to purplish red. Something to watch for in identifying these plants is the odd little mushroom shaped pistil. The fall foliage is very colorful, going from yellow to deep red.
Another native shrub just coming into bloom is the arrow wood Viburnum (Viburnum dentatum.) These shrubs get large, often growing to 6-8 feet tall and 10 feet wide at the edge of the forest, but each individual flower is hardly bigger than a pencil eraser. An easy way to identify viburnums is to look for the five petals that they all have. Native dogwoods, which should be blooming any day now, will always have 4 petals. The glossy, toothed leaves are a good indication that this plant is an arrow wood viburnum. The white flowers are followed by small, dark blue fruit that birds love.
Native False Solomon’s seal (Maianthemum racemosum) is still going strong but very soon the blossoms will give way to small reddish berries that provide food for many birds and other wildlife. These plants prefer dry woods and partial shade, but I’ve seen them grow in quite wet soil and nearly full shade as well. False Solomon’s seal can be found in garden centers and is an excellent choice if trying to attract birds to the garden.
Another flowering shrub that isn’t well known is the Buckthorn (Rhamnus.) This shrub can be tree like, reaching 25 feet in height. This is another of those plants that is easily confused. There is one called Common Buckthorn, another called Alder Leaved Buckthorn, one called European buckthorn, and still another called Lance Leaved Buckthorn. All are similar but I believe the plant in the picture is the European buckthorn because the leaf margins aren’t serrated. The small white flowers that grow in the leaf axils are followed by fruit that changes from green to red to purple and finally to black. This shrub is said to attract Brimstone butterflies. There are buckthorn hybrids that are grown as garden specimens. Forest plants can be invasive.
This plant is very rare in this area-at least in my experience, since I’ve only seen it twice in my life. It is called rattlesnake weed (Hieracium venosum.) The common name comes by way of an old tale of how the plant likes to grow in areas populated by rattlesnakes. We do have timber rattlers here in New Hampshire, but none were in the area when I was taking pictures. This native plant is listed as endangered in Maine and I think it should probably have the same designation in New Hampshire, but here it is listed as “present.” It is related to both dandelion and yellow hawkweed (Hieracium pratense) and the flowers look nearly identical to those of yellow hawkweed. My favorite parts of the plant are the reddish purple veined leaves.
The flowers of rattlesnake weed (Hieracium venosum) close at night and on cloudy days and since it was nearly evening when I took this picture, these blossoms were closing. This picture does show the notched petals that are so similar to those of yellow hawkweed.
I don’t think I could count all the times I’ve told kids “That little flower smells just like pineapple,” only to have them say “No it doesn’t.” “Smell it,” I tell them and then watch as the big smile comes to their face when they do. “That’s why,” I tell them “it’s called pineapple weed.” Is there anyone, I wonder, who hasn’t squeezed and then smelled pineapple weed (Matricaria discoidea)? Some think this flower looks and smells like chamomile with all the petals missing, and I’ve heard it makes a good tea. It is a native plant that was used extensively by Native Americans.
For the last picture in this post I thought I’d leave you with a small sampling of what a New Hampshire meadow can look like. Every flower in it has already been in this blog though, so it’s time to find another meadow.
Little things seem nothing, but they give peace, like those meadow flowers which individually seem odorless but all together perfume the air ~George Bernanos
Thanks for stopping by.
Thanks for the help in identification!
You’re welcome, glad I could help.
So like your ‘Hedge Bindweed’. Except, it may NOT be ‘Hedge Bindweed’ that’s normally white. Like you in US love the pink variety that’s appearing round my UK frequent walking haunt. Maybe this common ‘weed’ so maligned and dug up out of gardens is deciding “Hey, I’m gonna make myself look even more beautiful from now on so I don’t get dug up so much!” Lol
Thank you for the input. Last summer I saw a pink and white bicolor one. I’m fairly certain that it’s hedge bindweed, which is quite different from morning glory in several ways. If you type “hedge bindweed” in the search box in the upper right corner of this blog you can see all of the posts I’ve done that include this plant, along with the explanation of why I think it’s hedge bindweed.
That’s so interesting that Hedge Bindweed in USA can be of varied colours (colors) and still be labelled under same botanical name. Not being able to upload photos I have utilised my avatar to show the coloured Bindweed I have seen in UK. We are presently trying to identify it as a separate Bindweed species that may not be Calystegia sepium that is usually all white.
Yours is a beautiful color. It’ll be interesting to see if they do find that it’s a separate species. I wonder if botanists here are working toward the same goal. I’ll have to look into that so I can label the ones I’ll see this summer correctly.
You would think such a lovely pond would deserve a name. This post featured several plants that could easily be mistaken for something else. I’m glad our guide knew enough not to be fooled.
No, as far as I know that pond doesn’t have a name. We have many-possibly humdreds-of small ponds here that aren’t named. It’s true that many wildflowers are easily mistaken for others but after knowing them for a time you get to know what to look for. That doesn’t mean that I don’t make mistakes though, because I don’t know them all and probably never will. I spend a considerable amount of time pouring through field guides for each post like this.
A well-done and informative post! The bindweed has been popping up all over here lately.
Thank you! I hope I can find the one in the post again so I can get shots of the seed pods.It was growing in some tall grass along the road as they often do.
Beautiful photos and helpful for plant ID. We have some of the same species in Minnesota.
Thank you. I’ve been enjoying finding out about nature in Minnesota through your blog, which I enjoy very much. Thanks for stopping in!
Your posts inspire me to get up from my usual perch and see what else is blooming in the area. Then I can get down to IDing my pictures through your posts.
I bet, with your intimate knowledge of these places, you could come up with some cool names for those unnamed paths, meadows, ponds, streams, and bogs that you share.
I’d be careful if I were you Scott and stick with the field guides for identification. You should see all the pictures I have that are labled “unknown.”
I think most of the places I go must be named on some map somewhere, but I really haven’t bothered to look because I’m not into getting crowds of people going to them. The plants and animals do better without the stress, I think.
Enjoyed the hikes around your haunts. I be in the category of those never smelling the pineapple. I think i recognize the plant will have to squeeze one and give it a smell next time.
Glad you liked seeing a bit of old New Hampshire. I don’t know why I don’t do that more often. I think you’ll be surprised when you smell the pineapple weed!
I enjoyed seeing the plants and really enjoyed seeing the places too. I will have to remember that and do it myself. That pond is very pretty!
Thanks! I like that pond too but there aren’t many early wildflowers there. It’s mostly late flowers like asters and goldenrod, so we’ll see it again this fall.
Beautiful images, Allen…and words by Bernanos, as well…thank you. 🙂
You’re welcome Scott. And thank you too.
Most welcome. 🙂
New Hampshire looks very much like Michigan in your photos.
Beautiful flowers.
🙂
Thanks Chris. We really do have a lot of the same flowers. I just wish we had parks like yours. They’re amazing!
I have been calling hairy vetch “cow vetch” from the beginning. Thanks for the education!
The visitor on your daisy is a crab spider (probably Misumena vatia). The reason you didn’t notice it when you took the photo is because it can change its color to match the surroundings, though this ability is limited to the yellow-to-white range. Not much of a limit for the spider though. I have found them after the fact in my photos many times in the past. Most notably on this instance. The easiest way to spot them though is to look for dead wasps on white or yellow flowers (common yarrow is a prime hunting ground).
I always just called it vetch! I got an education when I looked it up to make sure I knew what I was writing for the blog. I don’t like giving out misinformation if I can help it.
Thanks for the info. on the spider. I knew it was a spider but I didn’t know what kind-extremely interesting stuff! I’ll keep an eye out for it from now on.
Unrelated, but I think you would enjoy this episode of a webcomic I read. http://sheldoncomics.com/archive/120611.html
That’s funny. I’ve been in similar positions myself, so I know just how the poor guy felt!
Places with no names are the best places to go most often, and the best trails to foloow are those that you’ve made yourself. Sorry, had to say that as I can offer nothing intelligent about the flowers, other than they are beautiful and that you sure do know your stuff!
I agree. I tend to stay away from places that attract lots of people because it is distracting and I have a hard time concentrating on what is at hand. I don’t break many new trails, but I know where a lot of unused ones are. I only know what nature, books, and excellent teachers have taught me!
Hi Allen, you never fail to impress me with your knowledge….I cant tell you how many flowers i have seen over the years that you have exposed to their true names….It has been truelly a pleasure…..Its mushroom time and I have found my first 2 groups of chanterelles…..When I put an outing together, I hope you will join….a day in the woods and a bbq back at my place…..Michael
Thanks Michael-i’m glad you’re able to put names with those flowers now. Thank you for the invitation. It’s hard for me to plan too far into the future, so I hope you’ll contact me again later on. I’ve been seeing a few mushrooms over the last few days too.