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Some of the weirdest wildflowers I have ever seen
- Aug 19, 2009 at 9:02 AM
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- Comments (7) Total Views (247) Everyone can see this journal post.
I generally expect some plants from other places to have a weird look to me, just because I haven't seen them before and they are adapted to other climates and regions. I was pretty surprised to find out my general area (Northeast USA) can some really odd looking flowers.
One of my favorite new flowers is the Common Mullein, partly because of its monstrous size and partly because it took me 4 weeks of pretty intensive searching to figure out what it was! We first found it growing in a very rocky space near the park, and it was about my height!! Then a few weeks later we found a smaller specimin growing on a rocky outcrop in the river, but it was much shorter (and much less impressive). We visited the first specimin a few times, waiting for the flowers to open up all the way, which they never did. It turns out, the flowers bloom a few at a time, all the way up the stalk, over the course of a few months. Here is a picture of this beauty from MIT. The book says it grows 2-7 feet tall and birds love them! To me, it looked like a giant corn cob with leaves.
Another one we found in the same area initially (rocky area near the park) is the butter-and-eggs. It was really easy to identify on the internet, and since then we have found it in quite a few other places, always in the rocks, where there is little soil. This picture is from minnesotawildflowers, and I think you can see where the "mouth" of the flower opens up, just above the orange part. It's pretty cool to play with and pretend the flowers are talking...... The picture below is from ontariowildflower.com.
We also found the Lady's Thumb to be a weird little flower, in the sense it doesn't look like a traditional pink flower. I remember when I was little, finding masses of these in the fields, and there would always be tons of caterpillars in the same place. Now we just find them here and there, but Abby loves the name! The picture below is from blupete.com
When we were in Florida, one of our favorite things was the Spanish Moss that grows on the trees. I really think it is a beautiful addition to the scenery there. We didn't know it was actually considered a wildflower until we saw it listed in our book! The picture below is from Britannica.
One of Abby's favorites is the Teasel, otherwise know to her as the "giant spike". They flower little purple flowers for a few weeks, in a ring around the pricker cone at the top. These also grow quite large, and we have some at the edge of our property that are taller than she is. One day she came out of the house wearing one of her winter gloves and proclaimed "That's IT! I am going to touch that Teasel!". LOL. These turn brown over the fall and winter and often remain standing the next year. Picture below from shawnature.com.
I wonder if anyone is sick of posts about wildflowers yet! As you can see, this summer project had a huge affect on me, as I watched Abby get interested in her first round of nature exploration. It's funny to think i *never* liked plants before :)
Tonya
AKA sunmoonstars
Comments:
I love wildflowers and can never get enough of them. :) (love to press them) I remember seeing the butter n eggs as a child in Wisconsin. What pretty flowers up there. That is really neat about the moss. I would have never thought that it was a flower! It was all over the place when we went to the gulf.
Good idea to press them - I bet Abby would like that..... maybe next year.
jrjade - It's cool how different places have different things. That is one of my favorite things about vacations is that we get to see different plants and animals.
Not sick of your wildflower posts at all! In the hills near our house, we get a lot of beautiful, purple lupines in the spring. I just love this season if only to see the hillside covered with them. When my son and my husband go on their walks, he always bring me at least a sprig of it. Sometimes I wish we lived in a place where more wildflowers grow.
Common Mullein!!! You just solved the mystery of what random plant grew in my flowerbed this year. :)
Oh, and I loved Spanish Moss. So neat!
I just wanted to add 1 more comment..:) I have been suffering from an ear ache. The pain finally hit me today..I noticed it might be it when I kept falling over in yoga class the other night. Today I looked it up in my "Green Pharmacy" That Mullein actually has medicinal purposes. The essential oil can be dropped into the ear to soothe and heal an ear ache. I thought that was cool. So many wildflowers have healing properties.
arthistmom - I love the look of the large fields of purple loosestrife, even if it is an invasive plant here.
RanaAurora - WOoHOoo!!! LOL
MomforHealth - that is pretty cool. I had no idea!
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I love wildflowers! The first two you listed are common where I live in Minnesota. We live on the sand plain of the Mississippi River. (central Minnesota).
- jrjade
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