WildeHerb is a collection of wild herb and wildflower sightings.
The Ox-eye Daisy is very common along roadsides, in fields and waste places in the United States and Canada. Maybe it’s so common because it is an introduced or alien plant that isn’t native to this part of the world.
The white petals and yellow “eye” are really the ray and disc flowers of this perennial, composite flower, Leucanthemum vulgare.
Like many of the composites this wild daisy can be mowed over and it will regenerate another set of flowers.
From the end of May and for nearly the whole month of June we kept seeing this tall flowering weed everywhere. It pops up in fence rows, empty fields, along the highway, near the river and in waste areas.
It’s a tall plant that reaches 4-8 feet tall, with a few individuals getting up to 12 feet tall. This weedy alien plant blooms for a few weeks with very small white flowers in rounded clusters or umbels.
One day while traveling down a country road, I asked my friend to pull over so I could get a closer look at this flowering roadside weed. Since there were so many of these plants in many places I yanked one up to bring it home for a better look. When I brought it back to the car my driver said, “Hey, don’t bring any poisonous stuff in here!” I’m not sure why that was said as I have littered the car with plant specimens many times before, so I retorted with a quick, “Of course, not!”
After arriving home I consulted Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide
I have to admit the whole plant had this wierd smell. It was a funky smell that might be described as acrid or dank, kind of like wet dirty socks. A week later I stopped at a parking lot to get some pictures of the weed. Where the edge of an empty field met the gravel of the parking lot, the Poison Hemlock grew prolifically there. The smell was undeniable.
Phew! No wonder flies pollinate this stinky stuff!
Several umbels are already setting seed while other umbels are blooming.
In the photo above the foreground flowers are oxeye daisies and the white flowers in the background are poison hemlock.
The smell alone should alert anyone that this plant shouldn’t be ingested, but every year several people try it anyway. Why anyone would think a white and purple blotched “carrot” is an edible one is the mystery. We all know their tap roots are orange!
Cohorts of poison hemlock at the parking lot were sumac, daylilies, oxeye daisy, purple loosestrife, nightshade, blackberries, common mullein and crown-vetch.
The large compound or divided leaves appear rather lacy or fern-like and they clasp the main stem, sheathing it. Purple blotches or spots are highly visible on the substantial stems, especially at the base. This plant may look sort of like wild carrot, but the tap root is white with purple spots and streaks, not orange. Do not attempt to eat any Parsley Family members without assured identification. Death may result!
Photos taken 10 June 2010.
The small bracts underneath the umbels are entire. Another member of the Parsley Family, Wild Carrot or Queen Anne’s Lace, Daucus carota, has divided bracts that are deeply and narrowly lobed.
If you remember your history lessons, poison hemlock was used to kill the famous philosopher Socrates back in ancient Athens. A very small amount ingested can cause death. Take caution and realize that the juice from the plant can cause dermatitis. I didn’t suffer any rash or itching after I handled it, but some people might be sensitive to it. Do not handle if at all possible. If pulled up, use gloves and do not put in compost heap or the seeds may come back to haunt you. Dispose in plastic bag in the garbage.
Late May to early June is the blooming time for Whorled Loosestrife, Lysimachia quadrifolia in Pennsylvania, in particular South-central PA. These delicate loosestrife plants are about two feet tall and have lance-shaped leaves in whorls. You can find them flowering in open woods, at the edges of fields and along hiking trails.
Cohorts include Spotted Touch-Me-Nots and blackberry vines. Photo above taken 8 June 2010.
Whorls have typically four leaves and flowers but on the mountain ridge here we often see whorls of five. More rarely plants will have whorls of three. Photo above taken 31 May 2010.
In the photo above taken 31 May 2010 the Whorled Loosestrife plant on the left has five leaves per whorl and the one on the right has four leaves per whorl.
The flowers are truly star-like with five golden-yellow petals. Each has red dots around the center of the flower.
08jun2010
..whorled loosestrife flowering profusely
plants are two feet tall, whorled leaves
Whorled Loosestrife, Lysimachia quadrifolia,
loosestrife-whorled-lane.jpg 08jun2010
About a dozen plants of Whorled Loosestrife blooming in the open woods. Cohorts include Spotted Touch-Me-Nots and blackberry vines.
loosestrife-whorled-flower-buds.jpg 31may10
Flower buds project well over the whorled leaves, one flower for each leaf. Whorls have typically four leaves and flowers but we often see whorls of five.
loosestrife-whorls.jpg
In the photo above taken 31 May 2010 the Whorled Loosestrife plant on the left has five leaves per whorl and the one on the right has four leaves per whorl.
The flowers are truly star-like with five golden yellow petals. Each has red dots around the center of the flower.
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Sumac seems to be everywhere around here. If you looked at the wood’s edge, most likely you could find a few sumac shrubs or little trees. It is a common plant, but there are a few different kinds of sumac. One is poisonous, but that occurs mostly in swamps. We don’t have that habitat up here on the mountain ridge, but we do have to keep our eyes open for poison sumac’s nasty cousin, poison ivy!
The Audubon North American Field Guide to Wildflowers
Fragrant Sumac, Rhus aromatica, is a little different in appearance as it only has three leaflets to its compound leaves, where the other sumacs have many more leaflets, like 9 to 31 leaflets.
Smooth Sumac, Rhus glabra, is definitely smooth on the twigs and the many leaflets are untoothed. The leaf stems have a nice blush of purple on them. (Photo of smooth sumac taken on 30 June 2010.)
Winged Sumac can be differentiated from Staghorn Sumac by the presence of a winged midrib between the leaflets of its pinnately compound leaves. Leaflets are untoothed in Winged Sumac.
Staghorn Sumac, Rhus typhina, seems to be the primary species of Sumac in our area. Characteristics that mark this sumac are its hairy twigs, toothed leaflets, and reddish hairs on berry-like fruits. Flowers are green in terminal clusters.
A type of pink lemonade can be made from the ripe red berries of Staghorn Sumac in the summertime. Peterson’s Edible Plant Guide
Does anyone out there feel adventurous enough to try sumac lemonade? Let us know how you make out!
The Asiatic Dayflower, Commelina communis, is a cute three petal flower with two upper blue petals and one lower white petal. The lower white petal is so thin or narrow that often it is not even noticeable. The two larger blue petals stand out like Mickey Mouse ears. Long stamens stand out and anthers are bright yellow. A sheath is underneath each flower as a sort of pocket.
In the photo above taken 6 June 2010, the thinner stem to the left of the larger stem on the right is that of the Asiatic Dayflower. Note the oval pointed leaves and the sheath that houses the flower until blooming time.
A related plant called Virginia Dayflower, Commelina virginica, has three blue petals and otherwise the flower appears the same as the Asiatic Dayflower. The Virginia Dayflower is native to Eastern North America, but it’s very rare compared to the alien Asiatic Dayflower.
Dayflowers are named appropriately as they bloom for only one day, so they’re no good for cut flower arrangements.
Leaves are linear-veined, pointed ovals that sheath the stem. These plants spread by laying down their stems and rooting at the leaf nodes. This reclining habit also helps to differentiate the Asiatic Dayflower from the native dayflowers, which grow in an erect posture.
Asiatic Dayflowers photographed here were growing along the upper west lane near blackberries in a partially shaded area with Spotted Touch-Me-Nots.
Much better pictures of the Asiatic Dayflower can be seen in an earlier post about it blooming in South-central PA.
Peterson’s Edible Plant Guide
Elderflowers bloom at the end of spring and the beginning of summer and ripen into dark purple elderberries by the end of summer.
In the photo above taken 6 June 2010 there are over 3 dozen elderflower clusters. Additional flower clusters were observed blooming on the same plant on 22 June 2010. The flower clusters occur at tips of branches. When the elderberries ripen they get heavy enough to bend the branches down. Berries are ripe for picking when the clusters hang down and are very dark purple.
Elderberry shrubs, Sambucus canadensis, have large, opposite, pinnately compound leaves with leaflets opposite one another. Toothed leaflets are lance-shaped and occur in pairs except for the terminal leaflet.
Note that the upper right leaf has nine toothed leaflets. The flower cluster rises up from the terminal end of the branch between two compound leaves.
Individual elderflowers are creamy white with five rounded petals and protruding stamens, which gives the flower cluster a fuzzy appearance from a distance.
All around the area we see elderflower bushes at the edge of fields, where the trees meet the open sunny fields. Many bushes are growing near water, in culverts, in drainage areas, and near streams. The tall elder shrub photographed above grows next to the edge of a lane where a natural spring trickles water down the side of the road, especially in Springtime and after heavy rains.
When the elderberry bushes are in bloom is the best time to find these shrubs if you’re going to collect the elderberries. The berries won’t ripen until late summer. By then we’ll be ready to make elderberry jelly!
Partridgeberry, Mitchella repens, is a member of the Madder Family, Rubiaceae. It’s one of the plants that just make me think, “Forest Flowers.” You won’t find it growing anywhere else but in a forest or perhaps in a shade garden. Partridgeberry is native to the Eastern North America.
The terminal white or pink trumpet-like flowers are fragrant. The four petals are fuzzy-looking due to hairs on the inside of the petals. Twin flowers seem to be connected at their bases by a common stipule.
Stems are creeping with small, opposite, leathery, round evergreen leaves. Leaves usually have a light-colored midrib and sometimes the other leaf veins stand out with a lighter color. Leaves are otherwise dark green and entire, or untoothed.
Twin flowers coalesce into a single red berry that may last through winter and remain at the tip of the vine until Spring. Peterson’s Edible Plant Guide
Partridgeberry does seem to have medicinal properties. A leaf or berry tea was used historically for treating female problems, such as irregular or painful periods and childbirth pain, which lent partridgeberry the nickname Squaw Vine. Astringent qualities of the tea led to its external use for skin irritations and as a wash to soothe arthritis.
The group of Solomon’s Seal plants look similar, especially early in the year when the greenery is just coming up. They all have parallel-veined leaves along a single arching stem and six-pointed flowers.
The plants themselves are different enough to warrant being placed in two different genera. At one time the Solomon’s Seals were all considered members of the Lily Family, Liliaceae. Further research resulted in their classification as members of the Ruscaceae Family, but that is now in question.
Naming and classifying plants is not an easy task as there are several plant taxonomy systems that one might follow. Here at wildeherb we tend to follow the old Cronquist system with its major divisions of Monocots and Dicots, but we do take efforts to highlight accepted newer names for our vegetative friends.
Blossoms tell the story as far as which plants belong to which species. After all flowers are the reproductive parts of the plant. The central idea of a species is that members of a species will be able to reproduce the next generation. Species are isolated from one another by not being able to cross breed or interbreed to produce viable offspring. Hybrid species can be formed, but they do not contribute to the furthering of either parent species.
Comparing flowers, or deciding which plants are of the same species, often comes down to comparison of the floral parts. A case in point is Whorled Pogonia, a native orchid that we were lucky enough to see blooming in 2010 here on the mountain top.
Another example where we need to compare floral parts to for sure distinguish the species from each other are the Solomon’s Seals. The leaves for these related plants could be described as linear, entire, oval shaped leaves having a short tip and arranged alternately along a single arching stem.
Flower placement is axial or terminal in the Solomon’s Seals. Axial flowers hang down from the leaf axils in two Polygonatum species. Terminal flowers grow at the tips of the arching stems in two Maianthemum species.
Smooth Solomon’s Seal, P. biflorum, and Giant Solomon’s Seal, P. canaliculatum, have flowers that dangle from the leaf axils. Smooth Solomon’s Seal has typically two yellow-green bell-shaped flowers per leaf axil. Giant Solomon’s Seal has the same type of flower as Smooth, but they’re usually in a small cluster of 2-10 flowers. Also, the stature of Giant is usually much bigger than Smooth.
Photo above taken 30 April 2010.
False Solomon’s Seal, M. racemosum, and False Starry Solomon’s Seal, M. stellatum, have their blossoms at the tip of the single arching stem. False Solomon’s Seal has a branched cluster of a few dozen small white blossoms. False Starry Solomon’s Seal has fewer, but larger, flowers and they come right off the main stem with no branching.
Photo above taken 31 May 2007.
Fruits are somewhat different among the Solomon’s Seals, but we’ll have to wait a while for them to turn from green into their final colors before making comparisons.
Incidentally, if you’re using an older wild plant guide the Maianthemum species are probably labeled as Smilacina species. False Solomon’s Seal may be listed as S. racemosa and False Starry Solomon’s Seal may be called S. stellata.
