interesting bits

Showing 97–108 of 109 results

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
Vaccinium membranaceum / thinleaf huckleberry
- understory shrub, locally dominant
- oval, alternate leaves
- very small white/pink urn-shaped flowers
- flowers in axils on red/yellow new growth
- fruit - a bluish/purple to black, ¼" berry
Also known as: tall huckleberry, big huckleberry, mountain huckleberry, square-twig blueberry, black huckleberry
Valeriana edulis / hairy valerian
- long-lived, herbaceous, dioecious perennial - limited to marshes and fens
- grass-like basal leaves; pin-like lobed, stem leaves
- teeny male flowers, white with five fused petals
- sub-millimeter female flowers
- male and female flowers usually on different plants
- overall plant stands out above wetland grasses, rushes etc.
Veronica officinalis / heath speedwell
- prostrate, herbaceous perennial
- hairy green stems and leaves (obvious)
- short, erect, spike-like shoots
- ¼" blue/violet flowers
- 4 petals with purple stripes
- gaps and exposed soils
Viola praemorsa / upland yellow violet
- yellow, 5-petals with purple "pencilling" on lower petals
- back sides up upper petals brown-ish
- leaves relatively thick, likely with many short hairs
- on dry, rocky soils, often with sagebrush or steep slopes
- soon after snowmelt; follows the snow up the mountains
Viola vallicola / sagebrush violet
- early, bright yellow violet, usually in sagebrush
- lanceolate leaves with long petioles
- moderate purplish "pencilling" on lower petal; 1-2 lines on side petals
- back sides of petals usually yellow (not brown)