continent-of-wild-endeavor – Page 2 – Kihaku-Gato's Garden Blog (tumblr import)

continent-of-wild-endeavor:

Yarrow! In the power cut. Achillea millefolia

continent-of-wild-endeavor:

A skullcap! I’m uncertain which one, though. Scutellaria species for sure. Look how different the leaves are higher and lower on the plant.

continent-of-wild-endeavor:

A nice climbing rose of some sort, by the margin of the woods near the picnic area. As I moved my hand away after admiring it, it stabbed me right in a papercut on my finger, so I left the encounter bleeding. Thanks.

Is it wild? Leftover from previous cultivation of this area? Invasive? I don’t know much about roses, beyond the ability to look at this and say that it is one.

EDIT: Confirmed on wildflower walk today – it’s the invasive one. Multiflora rose, aka Rosa multiflora.

continent-of-wild-endeavor:

The stem on this Jack in the Pulpit reminded me that they are aroids, and thus kind of exotic, if you will. Their relatives in this subfamily include

Amorphophallus titanum (the titan arum or corpse flower), calla & peace lilies (note that spathe and spadix, y’all), and Dieffenbachia/dumb cane, as well as just a whole bunch of other cool plants. It’s neat to see how similar and how different their leaf and flower structures can be, and all the different takes evolution has had on the same basic structures here.

continent-of-wild-endeavor:

Spotted geranium – Geranium maculatum

continent-of-wild-endeavor:

Hypoxis hirsuta – Common star grass, goldstar

Hirsuta means ‘hairy’, and look at those fine hairs on the leaves, the buds, and even the petals!

continent-of-wild-endeavor:

American Hazelnut – Corylus americana

These were so cool to find! A couple of plants right near each other, by a lakeside trail. It was nice of them to still have some nuts on, so I knew what they were right away. Next time, I’ll know just from the flowers. The long yellow catkins contain the male flowers, and the little magenta frill at the end of that twig is the female. Individual plants produce both.

continent-of-wild-endeavor:

I found some puttyroot orchids with the seed pods still on them!

I’ve never seen them bloom; like the crippled cranefly orchids, they’re not very showy, and just don’t stand out in the summer woods. But in the winter, their leaves sure do. The seed pods are also similar, but significantly larger (hand for scale).