The temperature fell to 40 degrees one night this week. Soon the leaves will begin to turn and the scent of wood smoke will fill the morning air. This means that the season for photographing flowers is coming to an end and soon we’ll all be wondering what else to use as subjects. For now though, there are still a few here and there. Here’s a sampling of what I’ve seen lately.
Native aquatic pickerel weed (Pontederia cordata) has had a long bloom period this year, but I’ve never paid enough attention to it to know if this is an unusual year for it. I like its fuzzy flowers. Pickerelweed’s common name comes from the pickerel fish. They were once thought to breed only under this plant’s leaves. Once the flowers are pollinated and seeds form the flower stalk will bend over and drop the seeds into the water. They will have to go through at least two months of cold weather before being able to germinate.
Turtle head (Chelone glabra) is another native that likes water, but not enough to be considered aquatic. It will often grow right at the water’s edge along ponds and streams, so even the slightest rise in water level will put the plant’s roots under water. These flowers had almost gone by but the photo is a good representation of what they look like. The flowers are said to look like turtle heads, but I’m still not seeing it. The blossom in the upper left corner comes closest to the turtle look for me. Native Americans made medicinal tea from this plant and early colonials used it in the same way.
All of the Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) plants in this immediate area came up too early last spring and were blackened by a hard frost. As the photo above shows, it didn’t even slow them down. This, along with purple loosestrife is one of the worst invasives, because it spreads so fast and so thickly that it chokes out all other plants. A viable plant can grow from as little as .7 grams of rootstock.
The flowers are why Japanese knotweed was imported from England back in the late 1800s.
Lady’s thumb (Persicaria vulgaris) gets its common name from a black / brown smudge on its leaves, supposedly left there by a mysterious lady we’ll never know. Small pink flowers crowd the flower stalks (Racemes) on this plant in the knotweed family. Each flower has 5 sepals but no petals. Flowers can be pink, red, greenish white, or purple. All of these colors sometimes appear on the same raceme. This plant is native to Europe and Asia.
The “lady’s thumb print” on Persicaria vulgaris leaves.
Smartweed (Polygonum hydropiperoides) flowers look a lot like those of its cousin lady’s thumb, but the flower spikes are longer and usually droop like the one in the photo. They also usually grow in the water of rivers and streams and have narrower leaves that don’t have the “thumbprint” that lady’s thumb leaves do. This plant is also called water pepper for good reason-the name “smartweed” comes from the very sharp, peppery taste of the stems, which makes the tongue smart. Many ducks, birds and animals eat the seeds.
Pale jewelweed (Impatiens pallida) looks a lot like spotted jewelweed, but has larger, pale yellow flowers instead of orange. This plant is rarely seen here, but I found several large plants growing beside a stream one day. Native Americans used the crushed leaves of jewelweed to stop the itching caused by poison ivy. I’ve used the plant’s juice for the same thing and it works well, and it also works on bug bites.
The sides of this flower were spotted much like those of spotted jewelweed, but quite often this plant’s flowers will have no spots at all. The nectar spur is shorter and less curved on pale jewelweed flowers as well. I think if I had to choose between the two plants I’d prefer the deep orange spotted jewelweed flowers.
Native sweet everlasting (Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium) looks a lot like pearly everlasting ( Anapahlis margaritacea) but its flower heads are narrower. The two plants are in the aster family, but aren’t closely related. These flowers are made up of a densely packed outer rim of overlapping bracts with many yellow disc florets in the center. The ‘everlasting” part of the common name comes from the way it lasts after it is dried. This plant is also called rabbit tobacco, but I’ve never seen one smoking it. Native Americans had many uses for it.
Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium purpureum) had a good year and this is just one of many large displays that I saw. Research into exactly who Joe Pye was has been ongoing for many years. The latest evidence says that Joseph Pye was a Mohegan sachem (chief) who lived in western Massachusetts and saved early European settlers from typhus by brewing a tea made from this plant. Joseph Pye was educated by Samson Occam, himself a Mohegan herbalist and Christian convert who kept an extensive diary. Those interested can read more about Joe Pye by clicking here.
I usually stay away from goldenrod identification because even experts have trouble with them, but when I see one that looks like it’s been in a strong wind, with all of the flowers on one side of the stem I know it is gray goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis.) Native Americans used many goldenrods medicinally in the form of salves, syrups and teas.
The purple asters are beginning to peek out here and there among the whites, which are almost done blooming. I think this one is a bog aster (Aster nemoralus,) but there are so many different ones that it’s hard to identify most of them with any real certainty unless you want to spend half a day doing so. All I know for sure is that it isn’t a New England Aster, which has a much larger flower. These were about the size of nickels.
Flowers whisper “Beauty!” to the world, even as they fade, wilt, and fall. ~Dr. SunWolf
Thanks for stopping in.
I’m amazed at how many flowers are still in bloom there. Here now, even at higher altitudes there are very few left; asters, pearly everlasting, goldenrod.
We stll have a few besides these but things are slowing down now and you really have to search to find what is blooming.
Very nice images, Allen…your purple aster looks very much like our purple mountain daisy.
Thanks Scott. I’ll keep an eye out for that daisy on your blog.
I’ll get it out there, Allen. 😉
Wildflowers do seem to be winding down here too. But yet some of the best ones are still here, Fringed Gentian, Fringed tip Closed Gentian, and the Ladies’ Tresses, all the beautiful asters and goldenrod.
Great info on all the plants, I do enjoy that part of your posts. Thanks.
🙂
You’re welcome Chris. I haven’t seen any gentians or orchids, but we still have a few plants blooming.
It’s sad that the season for flowers is coming to an end but I suppose there will be lots of seed heads soon and some nice frosty photos not to mention all the fungi. 🙂
I know, I’m in no hrry for winter but it has to happen and as you say, there will still be plenty to photograph. It’ll just be a little colder doing it.
A nice selection of flowers a few of which I actually recognize. I didn’t know turtlehead liked the water’s edge. I have some plants growing in the drier part of my garden, and they are hanging on. I’ll water them a little more next year. Great information, as always.
Thanks Sue. You could also plant shorter plants in front of the turtleheads on the sunny side to shade its roots and keep it from drying out so fast.
The Joe Pye weed by our pond has had a banner year as well. Wowza!
It seems like most plants had a good year. I saw some goldenrod the other day that must have been 6 feet tall.
The photos are amazing and the information is even more impressive. I love having that knowledge to explain the things I see when I am hiking. If you have any suggestions on how to deal with Japanese knotweed which is a tremendous problem in our area.
Thank you Charlie. I’ve heard that spraying Japanese Knotweed with an herbicide like Roundup at this time of year when the stems are fully grown has killed it, but I’ve never tried it. I’ve also read that cutting it to the ground 4 times in one year will weaken and finally kill it but again, I’ve never tried so I’m not sure. Luckily, I don’t have it on my property.
Great finds again! I have cultivated turtle heads by my pond. I love them
Thanks Laura. I too have some pink ones that were given to me by a friend years ago. I think they’re a rare plant as wildflowers go.
Wonderful post!
Thank You!
🙂
Well, you’ve given me a new challenge, find and photograph a rabbit smoking the rabbit tobacco! 😉
And, thank you for my weekly lesson in flower identification. I know that you and others have suggested good field guides, but they are dry and boring, your posts aren’t. It may take a while before you get to all the plants, but that’s OK, I can only absorb so much information at a time these days.
I’d pay to see that photo!
I’m glad these posts aren’t boring. Sometimes its hard for me to tell because I’m so familiar with the content that it can seem boring. I know what you mean about field guides-I can only take so much of them at a time. Yes, I think it might be quite a little while before I’ve done all the plants!
Wonderful shots–you seem to come up with new flowers all of the time. Regarding turtle head, I find that the right hand flower looks most like a turtle’s head. I love your comment about rabbit tobacco–my kind of humor.
Thanks Mike. Nature seems to keep putting them in my path, so I just keep clicking the shutter.
It’s funny how some people see the turtles and others don’t. I was just commenting that I have a friend who saw them before he even knew the name of the plant.
I wondered if anyone would notice the rabbit tobacco dig. Who would name a plant that, I wondered-and why would they?
I think this is a fairly typical year for the pickerelweed. The fruits are almost never quite ripe at the beginning of September, and I noted that was the case yesterday.
I could never see the turtle heads in turtlehead either. I haven’t seen the colony I knew for a couple of years now, as they have not been coming up. It’s nice to see an old friend.
I like to call pearly everlasting “dog nap” because those six letters show up in that order in its genus name.
I’ve got to pay more attention to pickerel weed, but there are so many others to pay attention to as well.
I have a friend who saw turtleheads in those flowers before he even knew the name of the plant.
That’s a great way to remember the name of Pseudognaphalium! I never noticed that before.