Whorled Loosestrife Flowers in Open Woods

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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.

About a dozen plants of Whorled Loosestrife blooming in the open woods.
About a dozen plants of Whorled Loosestrife blooming in the open woods.

Cohorts include Spotted Touch-Me-Nots and blackberry vines. Photo above taken 8 June 2010.

Flower buds project well over the whorled leaves, one flower for each leaf.
Flower buds project well over the whorled leaves, one flower for each leaf.

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.

Flowers and leaves in whorls.
Flowers and leaves in whorls.

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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Cooking with Sumac Berries

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We talked about the different kinds of sumac earlier this week, noting the flower buds and berries. It turns out that people around the world use the red berries of sumac as a spice in cooking. It seems popular in Middle Eastern and Greek culinary styles. In North America most people would probably think of poison sumac when sumac is mentioned and be totally surprised that it’s used in cooking at all.

Sumac berries and a powder made from crushing the berries have a lemony-taste or citrus flavors.

Here are a few links where folks are sharing their recipes for using sumac in cooking —

The citrus-like flavor should go great with meats and vegetables. I haven’t tried any yet, but I fully intend to pick some berries for my kitchen when they are ripe.

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Longleaf Summer Bluets Flower Among Blades of Grass

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A perennial yard weed that is really cute appears in late Spring and may be found flowering until mid-Summer. We see it in the lawn and near the edges of the lane where it grows in gravel and dry rocky soil at the top of the mountain ridge.

The trumpet-like flowers have a long bell with four flaring petals in white with tones of lavender. The flower buds are a rosey-pink to lavender color. Photos below taken on 8 Jun 2010.

Clusters of small trumpet-like flowers held above pairs of narrow leaves.
Clusters of small trumpet-like flowers held above pairs of narrow leaves.

Narrow, strap-like, sessile leaves are opposite one another on branching stems that barely reach ten inches tall.

Longleaf Summer Bluet, Houstonia longifolia, may also be known as Long-leaved Bluet. Its flowers are in small clusters and are more trumpet-like than the flowers of Bluets, which are not in clusters. Bluets have a way of holding their yellow eyed flowers up to the sun that the Longleaf Summer Bluet lacks. Its flowers are often held out to the sides.

Longleaf Summer Bluets bloom among the grass in the lawn.
Longleaf Summer Bluets bloom among the grass in the lawn.

In parts of New England the native Longleaf Summer Bluet is considered threatened. It is listed as endangered in Connecticut and Massachusetts, it’s of special concern in Maine, and it appears only in historical records in Rhode Island, which means the Longleaf Summer Bluet may already be extirpated there.

We seem to have plenty of the long-leaved bluet here on our mountain ridge in PA, but I haven’t seen it anywhere else.

Sumac Flower Buds and Red Berries

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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 describes Fragrant, Poison, Smooth, Staghorn and Winged Sumac in Eastern North America. Smooth, Poison and Fragrant Sumac all have smooth twigs. To be sure, Poison Sumac leaflets are not toothed and its berries are white.

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.)

Smooth sumac berry cluster and several leaves with many untoothed leaflets.
Smooth sumac berry cluster and several leaves with many untoothed leaflets.

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.

Compound leaves of Staghorn Sumac with many pairs of toothed leaflets.
Compound leaves of Staghorn Sumac with many pairs of toothed leaflets.
Cluster of green flowers and hairy twigs of Staghorn Sumac. Flowers are just beginning to open.
Cluster of green flowers and hairy twigs of Staghorn Sumac. Flowers are just beginning to open.
Another view of Staghorn Sumac blooming.
Another view of Staghorn Sumac blooming. Photos above taken 6 June 2010.

A type of pink lemonade can be made from the ripe red berries of Staghorn Sumac in the summertime. Peterson’s Edible Plant Guide says to bruise the berries, soak for 15 minutes in cold water, strain out the hairs and berries with cheesecloth, sweeten and chill.

Does anyone out there feel adventurous enough to try sumac lemonade? Let us know how you make out!

Mayapples Yellow When Ripe for Lemonade

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Mayapple, or American Mandrake, is one of those interesting plants that is easy to recognize because of its uniqueness. No other plant looks quite like the umbrella plant, does it? One or two deeply cut leaves have an overall round shape with a truly variegated edge. No two leaves seem to be alike, yet they are similar.

Appropriately named Mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum, starts blooming in the beginning of May. A single large white flower about two inches across blooms underneath the cover of one or two large leaves. The leaves seem to protect the flowers kind of like an umbrella. Check out some nice photos of Mayapple flowers in an earlier post about this native woodland plant.

Mayapple fruit at the fork of two large umbrella-like leaves.
Mayapple fruit at the fork of two large umbrella-like leaves.

Photo above taken 6 June 2010.

A single ripening fruit juts out from between the fork of two Mayapple leaves. I’m not sure what blight caused the yellow spots on the leaves of this Mayapple, but when the foliage is dying back it sometimes happens. Into July we can find mayapples turning yellow even though much of the foliage has already withered away.

The fruit is edible and can be enjoyed as a refreshing cold drink. One year I picked a handful of yellow fruit, cut them up and squeezed out the liquid in to a glass of ice cubes. I expected more of a citrus taste as Peterson’s Edible Plant Guide suggested the juice could be added to lemonade. Without sugar it would have been too tart and bland at the same time. At the very least Mayapple fruits are a survival food packed with vitamin C.

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Asiatic Dayflower Blooms For One Day

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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.

Three-petal bloom of the Asiatic Dayflower.
Three-petal bloom of the Asiatic Dayflower.

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 indicates the dayflowers are edible and may be enjoyed by adding young stems and leaves to salads or using them as cooked greens.

Wild Geranium Gone to Seed

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Wild geranium, Geranium maculatum, is a beautiful flowering herb that we see here on the mountain top. It flowers in the woodlands during May. The flowers grow in loose clusters at the stem tips. Stems are quite hairy and the seed pods themselves are very bristly. The long hairs on the seed pods and even on the seeds themselves aid animal dispersal of the seeds.

The beak of this wild geranium seed pod suggests the common name, Cranesbill.
The beak of this wild geranium seed pod suggests the common name, Cranesbill.

When the seeds are totally ripe the beak splits up the middle and each seed is attached to a curved piece of the old beak.

The seed capsule splits open with five seeds at the curled base.
The seed capsule splits open with five seeds at the curled base.

Note the bristles on the seed pods and seeds. Photos taken 6 June 2010. Click on any photo to see a larger view.

Elderflowers Bloom in June for August Elderberries

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Elderflowers bloom at the end of spring and the beginning of summer and ripen into dark purple elderberries by the end of summer.

Tall elderberry shrub reaches for the sunlight.
Tall elderberry shrub reaches for the sunlight.

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.

Elderflower cluster and compound leaves.
Elderflower cluster and compound leaves.

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.

Close-up view of an elderflower cluster.
Close-up view of an elderflower cluster.

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.

A common elderberry bush at the edge of a farmer's field.
A common elderberry bush at the edge of a farmer's field. Photo taken 10 June 2010.

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!

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