Is this a daisy-like green flower with six petals?

No.

The green “petals” are sepals. The two lavender and white tubes on the left provide a clue. The central disc used to hold the flowers.

This is wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa).  When in bloom it looks like this.

Still don’t recognize it?  Click here to see a flower bed full of Monarda fistulosa.

It’s a challenge to identify flowers when they’ve gone to seed.

(photos by Kate St. John)

On a sunny day last week I went to Jennings Prairie to see the wildflowers.  My old favorites were there — dense blazing star, tall sunflowers, culver’s root — but this plant was new to me.

Hog peanut (Amphicarpaea bracteata) is a member of the Bean family (Fabaceae) but its leaves caught my eye because they share some field marks of poison ivy.

Like poison ivy, two of hog peanut’s three leaves are asymmetrical and have no stem, the middle leaf has a stem, and the vine is hairy.  Unlike poison ivy, hog peanut leaves are egg-shaped and have smooth edges.  See the difference for yourself by comparing these photos of poison ivy leaves and vines.

Hog peanut got its name because it produces edible beans that are eaten by ruffed grouse, ring-necked pheasants, mice, voles and — apparently — hogs.

Most of the beans are produced by its insect-pollinated flowers shown below but some come from self-fertilizing flowers that grow on runners along the ground.

Although hog peanut is an annual, chances are good that you’ll find it in the same location year after year because its ground-based flowers go to seed.

Look for hog peanut in wooded areas along streams and seeps and on floodplains.  I found this one at the “Detour” bridge at the prairie.

(Note: The big bridge on the Blazing Star Trail is under construction.  The detour is obvious and easy.)

(photos by Kate St. John)

This Japanese shrub is prized for its pretty flowers and fruits.  Unfortunately it’s invasive in forests of the eastern United States.

Jetbead (Rhodotypos scandens) is easy to find in Schenley Park where it was planted as an ornamental.

In the spring I misidentify its four-petaled white flowers as mock-orange because I don’t pay attention to the leaves.  Jetbead has opposite, deeply toothed leaves with narrow tips and pronounced veins.

The fruits are unmistakable, though.  When ripe, they form a cluster of four shiny black beads — jetbeads — shown above.

We’ll look for jetbead tomorrow on my Schenley Park outing.  Meet me at the Westinghouse Memorial Pond.

(photo of jetbead fruit by Kate St. John; photo of flower from Wikimedia Commons; click on the image to see the original)

In July you’ll see white “fairy candles” blooming in the woods.  They’re the flowers of black cohosh, raising their spindly stems toward the light.

These “fairy candles” are also called “black snakeroot” because the root is black.  Native Americans used the root to treat pre-menstrual symptoms, an herbal treatment that’s still in use today.

Black cohosh (Actaea racemosa, syn. Cimicifuga racemosa) looks a lot like mountain bugbane (also known as American bugbane, Actaea podocarpa) because the plants are related.  Mountain bugbane is endangered in Illinois and rare in Pennsylvania.  Get a whiff of the flowers to tell the diffrence:  Mountain bugbane smells good, black cohosh smells bad.

Unfortunately some people dig up both plants thereby killing them and making them harder to find in the wild.  Whether digging is legal depends on the rare/endangered status of the plant and who owns the land. It’s legally complicated but ethically simple: Removing shared beauty for private use leads to the Tragedy of the Commons.

p.s. U.S. Forest Service has a good article — here — about the legality and ethics of taking plants on Federal land.

(photos by Kate St. John)

In western Pennsylvania there aren’t many flowers in June but things start to get exciting in July. Here’s what I’ve seen in the past week.

It’s lily time! The Turk’s cap lily (Lilium superbum), above, is blooming along the Butler-Freeport Trail. The Canada lily (Lilium canadense), below, was blooming in Raccoon Creek State Park on July 9.

Tall meadow rue (Thalictrum pubescens) is also blooming everywhere.  This one was along Nichol Road at Raccoon.

And here’s a puzzle.  The photo is a nice “beauty shot” but doesn’t show enough of the flower for me to positively identify it. My best guess is woodland sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus).  I wish I’d taken photos of the stem!

(photos by Kate St. John)

While visiting England and Finland my husband and I traveled by train. (Wonderful transportation!  I wish we had good trains in the U.S.)  In both countries I noticed beautiful flowers blooming along the rail lines.  As I feared, the flowers are invasive.

England’s railroad flowers:

In England the railroad waste places are crowded with butterfly bush, Buddleja davidii (pronounced “BUD lee ah”).  Originally from central China and Japan, buddleja has many cultivars and is planted around the world for its beauty.  It’s now invasive in most temperate regions outside its homeland including England, New Zealand and North America.  Yes, it’s invasive in Pennsylvania.  Here are Three Reasons to Never Plant Butterfly Bush Again.

Finland’s railroad flowers:

In Finland I was surprised to see so much lupine because it’s a treat to see it growing wild in North America.  Unfortunately Lupinus polyphyllus was imported for Finnish gardens and has escaped to waste places along the roads and railways.  It’s everywhere!  When I remarked on its beauty our Finnish friends said, “It’s awful! Very hard to get rid of.”   Here’s some lupine by the railway, taken from inside the train to Helsinki.

Click here to read about five invasive species in Finland. The North American mink is one of them.

Pennsylvania’s railroad flowers:

Though it’s hard to find a passenger train in western Pennsylvania, we still use railroads for freight and, yes, we have railroad flowers.  Ours are orange daylilies (Hemerocallis fulva), a garden cultivar from East Asia that grows wild along roadsides and rail lines.  This gave it two nicknames:  Ditch Lily and Railroad Lily.

Orange daylily seeds are sterile so the plant spreads by fibrous roots and rhizomes. These are so hard to get rid of that the plant is invasive in Pennsylvania.

Many invasive plants line the roads and railways of the world.  Fortunately the railroad flowers are beautiful.

(most photos are from Wikimedia Commons; click on the images to see the originals.)