interesting bits

Showing 85–96 of 100 results

  • Scutellaria galericulata / marsh skullcap

    • riparian zones and wetlands
    • blue, trumpet shaped (legume) flowers; usually in pairs on same side of a stem
    • flowers not at the top of the stems
    • square stems, widely spaced opposite leaves; adjacent pairs at right angles

  • Sedum lanceolatum / lanceleaf stonecrop

    • bright yellow, star-shaped flowers (possible red tinge)
    • fleshy/succulent, small leaves (green, yellow or red)
    • open rocky outcrops, gravelly sites
    • drought tolerant

  • Senecio integerrimus / tall western groundsel

    • early spring to early summer, often with larkspur
    • bright yellow flower head with several, disheveled looking blossoms
    • only 5-13 ray florets (petals)
    • cobwebby hairy basal leaves, especially when young
    • seasonally moist areas, from sagebrush to higher parts of the fen

  • Shepherdia canadensis / Canadian buffaloberry

    • deciduous shrub, opposite branches and leaves; understory
    • trichomes (hairs) on lower, often upper surfaces.
    • lower surface has rust-colored scales
    • teeny yellowish flowers before leaves appear; male and female on separate plants
    • red or orange, oval fruits with one stony seed; soapy when crushed

  • Solidago canadensis / goldenrod

    • large sprays of yellow flowers in late summer and fall
    • often tall and in large colonies
    • lance-shaped, toothed leaves
    • mostly (but not always) in disturbed areas

  • Solidago missouriensis / Missouri goldenrod

    • perennial herb, up to 40" tall
    • inflorescence is a branching panicle with many (≥200) yellow flower heads
    • involucres are ¼ long with 3 or 4 layers of narrow, pointed, hairless, yellow-green bracts
    • leaves are thin and lanceolate, upright and rigid with prominent midribs
    • upper leaves have pronounced but small teeth

  • Spyrogira spp./ green slime

    • unbranched, filamentous green alga
    • usually as slimy patches or long "tresses"
    • anchors to pondweed by entanglement
    • prefers the more nutrient rich waters drained from pastures

  • Streptopus amplexifolius / white twisted-stalk

    • creeping herb
    • oval, clasping leaves; parallel veins; sharp tip
    • pronounced stem "kink" at each node gives twisted look
    • drooping, cream-colored flowers, 6 recurved tepals, borne singly
    • single, elongated red berries in fall
    • found in moist undergrowth

  • Stuckenia pectinata / sago pondweed

    • submerged aquatic - dominant in its habitat
    • grass-like (but not a grass); waves in the current
    • branched with ~5" pointed leaves

  • Tetradymia canescens / spineless horsebrush

    • shrub - up to 3 feet tall and across; round
    • small, yellow composite flowers in clusters of 4 to 8
    • dandelion-like seeds often present with flowers
    • primary leaves short and linear; long-lived
    • secondary leaves in axils of primaries are short-lived
    • primary leaves are not spines

  • Triglochin maritima / seaside arrowgrass

    • in bogs, fens, and roadsides through them
    • "grass-like" leaves - semicircular cross section with a groove down the middle
    • tall flowering spikes with many crowded, green/yellow-ish, teeny flowers
    • clonal, so often in widely spaced clumps

  • Utricularia macrorhiza / common bladderwort

    • free-floating aquatic perennial; only the flowers are above water
    • yellow, snap-dragon-like flowers; up to 20 per stalk; ca. 1" across
    • very fine "leaves" underwater, supported by small (1/8") bladders
    • carnivorous and/or symbiotic - bladders capture/digest v. small animals, harbor symbionts

Showing 85–96 of 100 results