Thursday, August 19, 2010

Welcome to week five of the plant ID blog from the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants. This week will be a Eupatorium fest, with five of our native species represented. Other species represent many of our late-summer/ Fall blooming perennials. Don't forget to use this link if some of the botanical descriptions (ex. villous) are confusing. You can find definitions there for these terms. Enjoy!

1) Apios americana GROUNDNUT Fabaceae - Pea Family

Native vine of bottomland woods. Pinnate leaves with 5-7 lanceolate leaflets. Climbs by twining. Flowers in a terminal inflorescence of 7-15 distinctive, purple-brown blooms in early to mid summer. Fruit a legume 2-4 inches long seen in late summer.

2) Vernonia noveboracensis NEW YORK IRONWEED Asteraceae - Aster Family

Native perennial of wet meadows and streambanks. Lanceolate, serrate leaves dark green above, lighter green beneath, 4-8 inches long. Leaf base attenuate to petiolate. Perfect flowers, disk flowers a deep violet/purple. Stems often to six feet. Blooms July - September.

3) Eupatoriadelphus fistulosus TRUMPETWEED Asteraceae - Aster Family

Native perennial with tall, erect stems (often hollow) to six feet. Lanceolate, serrate leaves in whorls of 4-7. Flowers held in a terminal, paniculate cyme lacking ray flowers. Disk flowers 4-5 per flower head, pinkish/purple. Blooms July - September in wet meadows, ditches and along streambanks.

4) Eupatorium serotinum LATE FLOWERING THOROUGHWORT Asteraceae - Aster family

Native perennial to six feet. Stems pubescent on upper section, glabrous below. Leaves 4-7 inches long, opposite, serrate, lanceolate. Flowers in terminal corymbs, many flowers per head (often 15-20). Ray flowers absent. Disk flowers white to creamy/lavender, five lobed. Flowers July-September in old fields, roadsides, waste places.

5) Eupatorium perfoliatum COMMON BONESET Asteraceae - Aster Family

Common native perennial to five feet. Stems herbaceous, villous. Leaves six to eight inches long, serrate, lanceolate, pubescent, typically perfoliate. Flowers in terminal cymes with many blooms (15-20). Ray flowers absent, disk flowers white to pink, five-lobed. Flowers July - September in wet meadows, ditches.

6) Eupatorium hyssopifolium HYSSOPLEAF THOROUGHWORT Asteraceae - Aster Family

Native perennial with erect stems to three to four feet. Narrow, linear leaves two to four inches long in whorls of four. Leaves resin-dotted below. Upper leaves with fascicles of smaller leaves attached. Flowers in terminal cymes of five blooms each. Ray flowers absent. Disk flowers white to pinkish white, five lobed. Blooms July - September in old fields and waste places.

7) Eupatorium capillifolium DOGFENNEL Asteraceae - Aster Family

Tall native annual to six or seven feet. Often more than one stem per crown. Leaves thin, linear, aromatic, alternate, one to three inches long, pinnately or often bi-pinnately disssected to create a fine, filiform texture. Paniculate flowerheads in racemes, each head 3-5 flowered. Flowers white to cream colored in late summer.

8) Aureolaria virginica DOWNY FALSE FOXGLOVE Scrophulariaceae - Figwort family

Parasitic native perennial with (parasitic) association with members of the White Oak group of native trees. (Quercus stellata, Quercus alba, etc). Erect or drooping pubescent stems to three feet. Lanceolate leaves entire, sometimes lobed, two to five inches long. Solitary flowers arise from leaf axils. Yellow, tube/trumpet shaped flowers to two inches long in June and July. Found in mixed woodlands/wood edges.

9) Agalinis purpurea PURPLE FALSE FOXGLOVE Scrophulariaceae - Figwort family

Native annual. Many branched stems to three feet. leaves opposite, thin, linear, often curled. Violet flowers in terminal racemes. Corolla tube purple with creamy yellow throat. Found in waste places, old fields, ditches, etc. Blooms late summer into fall.

10) Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium RABBIT TOBACCO Asteraceae - Aster Family

Native annual or biennial to three feet. Stems single, erect, finely pubescent. Leaves linear, pubescent, margins often revolute, sessile, two to three inches long. Flowers in branching corymbs at top of stem. Ray flowers absent, disk flowers creamy white, tiny, often hidden within the floral involucre. Flowers late summer through fall in waste places, old fields, roadsides, etc.






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