You know it is high summer when our native purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) start blooming. This plant is well known for its medicinal qualities as well as its beauty. According to the USDA the plant was used by many Native American tribes throughout North America to treat a variety of ailments. It was used as a pain reliever, anti-inflammatory, as a treatment for toothaches, coughs, colds, and sore throats. It was also used as an antidote for various forms of poisonings, including snake bite. Portions of it were also used to dress wounds and treat infections. Modern medicine has found it useful to combat bacterial and viral infections and as an immune system booster. I grow it because butterflies and bees like its nectar, birds like the seeds, and I like to admire its beauty.
On this day bumblebees were all over the coneflowers.
There were lots of insects on the tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) too and that surprised me because tansy is a natural insect repellent and was used as such in colonial times. Dried tansy added to the straw in mattresses was said to keep bedbugs away. These insects must not have read the same books that I have because they seemed to be enjoying themselves. Tansy is a European native that has been cultivated for centuries and was brought over on the first ships to cross the Atlantic. The flat flower heads are made up of many button like disc flowers; almost like a daisy without the white ray flowers that we call petals. Most tansy plants are seen in gardens but it had naturalized itself in New England by 1785 and can still be occasionally found growing along roadsides. It’s a good plant to use in vegetable gardens for pest control. The ancient Greeks grew tansy for medicinal use but modern science has found it to be toxic.
Pickerel weed likes to grow in shallow water and large amounts of it grow here in the shallows of a local pond. This plant tells the story of how low the water level is and can be a help to kayakers and canoeists who don’t want to find themselves stuck in the mud. This plant is blossoming much later this year than it usually does and some aquatics like pipewort and arrowhead I haven’t seen at all.
Pickerelweed’s common name comes from the pickerel fish because they were once thought to breed only under its leaves. Each of the small, tubular flowers on the spikey flower heads will produce a fruit with a single seed. Once the flowers are pollinated and seeds have formed the flower stalk will bend over and drop the seeds into the water, where they will have to go through at least two months of cold weather before being able to germinate. Ducks and muskrats love the seeds and deer, geese and muskrats eat the leaves. Though humans can eat the seeds and new spring shoots of this plant there is no record that I can find of Native Americans using it for food, but I have read that some tribes used it as a contraceptive. I’m not sure how that worked.
Ping pong ball size buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) flower heads look like frilly pincushions with their long white styles sticking out of the tubular blossoms the way they do. This native shrub is almost always seen near water and I found this one on the banks of the Ashuelot River. Once the flowers go by a red seed head will form, which will turn brown as the seeds ripen. Waterfowl of all kinds love the seeds which, since buttonbush grows near water, are easy for them to get to. That might be why I see so many ducks and geese along this stretch of river.
Though I’m not foolish enough to think that I’ve seen every plant there is to see out there I’m always surprised to see plants I’ve never seen before growing in areas I’ve walked through dozens, if not hundreds of times. I first saw racemed milkwort (Polygala polygama) recently in a spot I frequent occasionally and then I found it growing in my own yard. It’s a small, shin high plant with flowers too small for me to see any real detail in without magnification.
The tiny flowers are about a 1/4 inch across with 2 winged sepals on either side of 2 petals rolled into a tube in the center. The flowers also have a fringed crest but this example hadn’t blossomed full so it doesn’t show. These flowers are like miniature versions of fringed polygala (Polygala paucifolia) flowers, which appear in mid-May.
This photo of fringed polygala (Polygala paucifolia) flowers that I took last May shows the similarities between them and the racemed milkwort blossom in the previous photo. The central tubular petals and two winged petals immediately led me to the polygala family when I was trying to identify the racemed milkwort. Other names for fringed polygala are fringed milkwort and gaywings. They’re very beautiful things that I wait impatiently to see each spring.
This photo shows how small the flowers of racemed milkwort really are. They’re hard on the eyes, but worth the effort to see in all their beauty.
Another tiny flower is found on native Canada St. John’s wort (Hypericum canadense). The plant has deep red buds but its flowers come in the more traditional yellow. Though some very reputable websites will tell you that this plant likes wet soil I always find it in dry gravel. It has grown in full sunshine for months now without harm so it’s a very tough little plant. I wonder if they might have it confused with dwarf St. John’s wort (Hypericum mutilum) which likes the wet soil of pond edges, or if I have it confused with yet another variety of St. John’s wort that I don’t know about. Canada St. John’s wort is also called lessor Canada St. John’s wort, so I assume that there must be a greater Canada St. John’s wort.
Canada St. John’s wort flowers are smaller than even dwarf St. John’s wort (Hypericum mutilum) flowers are. They’re said to be 1/4 inch across but I think that’s stretching it a bit. The Hypericum part of the scientific name comes from the words hyper, meaning ‘above’ and eikon meaning ‘picture’ in the Greek language. The flowers were once hung above pictures to prevent evil befalling the pagan midsummer festival. The popular festival eventually became the Feast of St. John, and that’s how the large family of St. John’s worts came by their common name.
Enchanter’s nightshade (Circaea lutetiana canadensis) is a woodland plant that likes a lot of shade and is one of those plants that is easy to miss until it blooms along trails in July. It gets its scientific name Circaea from Circe, an enchantress in Homer’s Odyssey with a fondness for turning men into swine. There are similar plants native to Europe and Asia.
Each tiny 1/8 inch wide enchanter’s nightshade flower consists of 2 white petals that are split deeply enough to look like 4, 2 green sepals, 2 stamens, and a tiny central style. To say that these flowers are difficult to get a good photo of is an understatement. I usually have to try many times, and I had to again this year. I think this was somewhere near the 10th attempt.
At the base of each flower there is a 2 celled ovary that is green and covered with stiff hooked hairs, and this becomes the plant’s bur like seed pod, which sticks to just about anything. When a plant’s seed pods have evolved to be spread about by sticking to the feathers and fur of birds and animals the process is called epizoochory. The burs on burdock plants are probably the best known examples of epizoochory.
Enough of the tiny flowers for now. Showy tick trefoil (Desmodium canadense) is a legume in the bean family. This plant gets part of its common name from the little barbed hairs that cover the seed pods and make them stick to clothing like ticks, much like the enchanter’s nightshade we just saw. The “showy” part of its common name comes from the way that so many of its small pink flowers bloom at once. As the plant sets seeds its erect stems bend lower to the ground so the barbed seed pods can catch in the fur of passing animals. I saw these examples out in an unmowed meadow and by the time I had waded out to them I was chest high in plants.
Showy tick trefoil has very pretty flowers that are obviously in the pea / bean family. It is also called Canada trefoil. One odd fact about this plant is that there are no known uses of it by Native Americans or colonials. From my experience that’s rare among native plants in this area. Maybe they just picked the beautiful flowers and used them to decorate their homes.
Each inch long spotted jewelweed blossom dangles at the end of a long filament and can dance in even in the slightest breath of breeze, and this makes getting a good photo always a challenge. It usually takes many tries for blog worthy photos of the blossoms and this year was no different. Hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies pollinate these little flowers. You need a long tongue to reach all the way into that curved nectar spur. It is said that jewelweed is an important source of food for ruby throated hummingbirds.
I tried to get a bee’s eye view looking into a jewelweed blossom (Impatiens capensis) but when I saw the photo I could see that I had been only partially successful. The lower lip of the blossom looked like red candle wax had dripped on it, which is common. This plant gets its common name from the way its seed pods snap and release the seeds when touched. Other names include orange Jewelweed, common jewelweed, and orange balsam. The name “jewelweed” comes from the way that raindrops sparkle on its wax coated leaves. The way the flowers shine, I wonder if the same waxy coating isn’t on them.
Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) is an invasive perennial that came over from Europe in the ballast of a cargo ship in the 1800s. The beach sand ballast, loaded with purple loosestrife seeds, was originally dumped on Long Island, New York. The seeds grew, the plant spread and now it covers most of Canada and all but 5 of the lower Untied States. It likes wet, sunny meadows but will grow just about anywhere. It’s hard to deny its beauty, especially when you see a meadow full of it growing alongside yellow goldenrods, but the plant chokes out natives including goldenrod and creates monocultures. I know of 2 places where you’ll soon see nothing but purple.
This is the first time long leaf speedwell (Veronica longifolia) has appeared on this blog because I’ve never seen it growing in the wild before, as these examples were. It’s a pretty plant that is native to Europe and China and is usually grown in gardens. It has obviously escaped but certainly doesn’t seem to be aggressive or invasive. I love its showy blue flower spikes.
Any post that has two plants that I’ve never seen before in it has to be a good one and I hope you enjoyed it. I’m sorry it ran a little long but there is just so much to see out there. Something else I’ve never seen is so many black eyed Susans growing in one spot. This roadside display is actually about 4 times wider than what you see here and there is a drift of many thousands of blossoms, so they’re having a good year.
The world unwraps itself to you again and again as soon as you are ready to see it anew. ~Gregory Maguire
Thanks for coming by.
The Black-eyed Susans are a wonderful sight! I did like all the different colours of the flowers you have included and I would never complain about the length of the post!
Thank you Clare. I had to go back and look myself because I wasn’t paying attention but there are a lot of different colors in this one. We’re lucky to have so many!
I usually try to keep a post to a maximum 20 photos but often at this time of year there are so many flowers or other interesting bits of nature to see it’s hard to stop.
I understand this so well!
Your close-up of jewelweed was magnificent. I learned while working in property management at a Mass Audubon Sanctuary that jewelweed is effective when exposed to poison ivy, even after the itchy part begins! I have tried it just after exposure and it worked! Your blogs are wonderful; so good to see what the tiny flowers look like up close.
Thank you Callie. I just found your comment and I’m not sure how I missed it back in July but I’m sorry that I did.
I have used jewelweed on poison ivy rashes in the past and it does work, even though there are those who will tell you that it’s all in your mind.
Your patience is a model for us all. I would like to think that I might learn from it but experience tells me that after four goes at getting the picture, I give up. Thank goodness you don’t and we get these delightful posts as a result.
Thank you. I hate to give up when I know I can do something.
Interesting about the Buttonbush. Didn’t realize it grew near water or was a food for waterfowl. I remember when we lived in Wisconsin we had a big patch of Jewelweed. I was never sure if I should treat it like a weed or as part of the garden.
Thanks. Yes, every time I see buttonbush it’s near water.
I think if I had it in my garden I’d treat jewelweed as a weed because it spreads quickly.
Reblogged this on Dawn of Divine Rays and commented:
Thank you for sharing these lovely flowers, Allen. The groundhogs ate all my coneflowers and they decided that they will eat the young leaves of my Black eye Susan, Rudbeckia and Daisy Gloriosa too .. so this year … am glad that you’ve seen that many flowers too. Namaskar
You’re welcome, and thank you. That’s too bad about the groundhogs. I tried for many years in many different gardens to find a way to discourage them from eating plants but I never had any luck. They seem to just give up and go away eventually though, but they do love flowering plants.
Have a great week!
I enjoy seeing the flowers that you have there. Only three of this collection grow in this area (or, I have found in this area). I suspect that a big reason for that is the difference we have in the amount of precipitation.
Thanks Montucky! That could be. We’ve had a lot of rain this year and many plants are blooming like I’ve never seen. But on the other hand many, especially aquatics, are blooming later than normal and some aren’t blooming at all. Whether they had too much rain and cool weather in spring I don’t know. I’m sure nature will sort it out but I miss seeing them.
Oh, summer, summer, summer! Your photos capture the beauty and sweetness of the flowers.
Thank you Laurie. Nature blogging sure is easier in summer!
Yup. Oh so sweet in northern New England, but never long enough.
I agree!
Wonderful pic of enchanter’s nightshade, the close-up of the blossom is perfect!
This is another plant I’ve learned just this year, having noticed it in my Maine yard earlier in summer and watched it grow larger until it formed enough features that my google searches could reveal its identity!
I so appreciate finding pictures on your blog of many of the plants popping up around me here, either confirming my identification or providing a much needed id of my unknowns! Thank you much
You’re welcome, I’m happy that I could help!
Thanks for another interesting post.
You’re welcome Paul, and thank you.
The jewel weed may be my fave. I seem to have yellow ones in the backyard. Do they also come in yellow?
Yes, they do and you’re lucky to have them. I’ve only seen the yellow ones once. They’re rare here, probably because of the acid soil.
You must spend hours trying to get the great photos of the small flowers like the enchanter’s nightshade! I know how difficult that species is to photograph.
In a strange turn of events, I recognize most of the larger flowers and even a few of the smaller ones, but what I thought was showy tick trefoil growing here in Michigan obviously isn’t from your photos and description.
I love the colors and forms of the flowers this time of year, but few of them have much of a scent to them, unlike the flowers that grow earlier in the year. I wonder if that’s because there are more pollinators this time of the year and the flowers don’t need scent to attract pollinators, as they do in the spring?
Thanks Jerry! I think off an on I probably did spend a couple of hours trying to get decent shots of the enchanter’s nightshade. Every time I saw a patch of it I’d try again. It’s a tough subject!
I’m glad to hear that you’re recognizing flowers. Once you see and put a name to them it isn’t too hard. There are about 50 tick trefoils though and many look similar, so that one takes some detective work. There is one called Illinois tick trefoil. Maybe that might be a good starting point.
You could be right about the flower scent / pollinator connection. It is true that they don’t have to work too hard to find flowers at this time of year and the flowers really don’t need to do much to attract them. Although now that I think about it competition among flowers for pollinators is probably at its highest right now. It could be they use colors instead of scent at this time of year. There sure are a lot of colors!
I really appreciate how you show a far view, then a close up view of many of your flower discoveries. The far view shows folks what they may see driving a long in their car. The close up, what they could see if they stopped and really looked. All so breathtakingly beautiful. Thanks again for all your hardworking and effort. I learn so much. 🙂 You are still my favorite blog, hands down.
Thanks very much Cindy. I try to show the best of the plant and its flowers when I can, hoping people will want to see them for themselves. No photo will ever be as good as the real thing!
“I tried to get a bee’s eye view looking into a jewelweed blossom (Impatiens capensis) but when I saw the photo I could see that I had been only partially successful.”
You were certainly successful in capturing it well enough to make it my favourite in this set of photos.
Thank you Ben. That’s a tough shot!
More than well worth the effort IMHO.
Reblogged this on Poltrack Pix.
Thank you John.
You had some great closeups here but my favourite was the pickerel weed, such a lovely shade of blue.
Thank you Susan. I like the color too. Blue is my favorite.