Everlasting Pea (Lathyrus latifolius)

Photographic Location: Wilson County in Middle Tennessee.

Fabaceae (Bean Family)

For more information about this plant, Click Here. 

Photographic Location: Wilson County in Middle Tennessee.

 

Smooth False Foxglove (Aureolaria laevigata)

A cluster of yellow, funnel-shaped flowers atop a smooth stem.

The members of this group of plants are semi-parasitic on the roots of oaks and usually turn black when dried as herbarium specimens. Northern False Foxglove (A. flava) is very similar but has pinnately lobed leaves; it is found from Ontario east to Maine and south to Florida and Texas.

Aureolaria species are also known as "oak leeches." They are native annual or perennial herbs and are partly parasitic on the roots of native oak trees.

Dense Blazing Star (Liatris spicata)

Dense gayfeather or marsh blazing star is an erect, slender perennial reaching a height of 3-6 ft. The linear, grass-like leaves are clumped toward the base of the plant, but extend up the stem to the showy flower cluster. A tall spike of rayless, rose-purple (sometimes white), closely set flower heads. The purple, tufted flower heads are arranged in a long, dense spike blooming from the top down.

The species name describes the elongated inflorescence, with its crowded, stalkless flower heads. The protruding styles give the flower an overall feathery appearance, hence its alternate name, Dense Gayfeather.

It has reputed value in herbal medicine for soothing sore throats and for treating gonorrhea and other venereal diseases.

Also in the picture is Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) and in the second picture a moth Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis).

Woodland Sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus)

This perennial wildflower is 2½-6' tall with a central stem that becomes branched where the flowerheads occur. This stem is light green to dark purple, slender, terete (round in cross-section), glabrous to sparsely covered with short stiff hairs, and sometimes glaucous. Upper secondary stems have similar characteristics. Pairs of widely spreading opposite leaves occur along the central stem and any secondary stems; each pair of leaves rotates 90° from the pair of leaves below. Leaf blades are 2-6" long and ½-2" across; they are lanceolate-oblong to ovate-oblong in shape, and either toothless or with widely spaced teeth along their short-ciliate margins. The base of each leaf blade is rounded-truncate, while its tip is long and gradually tapering. The upper surface of the leaf blades is yellowish green to medium green and sparsely to moderately covered with short stiff hairs, while the pale lower surface is short-pubescent, especially along the major veins. Three prominent veins join together at the base of each leaf blade. The leaves are sessile or they have short ascending petioles (about 1/8" long).The Woodland Sunflower is easily identified by its sessile, or nearly sessile, opposite leaves. Other sunflowers (Helianthus spp.) have longer petioles. Its stems are usually hairless or mostly hairless, unlike Helianthus hirsutus (Hairy Sunflower) and some other species in this genus. Compared to some narrow-leaved sunflowers that occur in prairies, the leaf bases of Woodland Sunflower are more broad and nearly truncate.

The butterfly is a Pearl Cresent (Phyciodes tharos)

Sicklepod (Senna obtusifolia)

An annual to 3 feet tall with an unpleasant odor. Leaves: alternate, pinnately compound with 2-3 pairs of elliptic to obovate leaflets, each leaflet 1-2" long. Flowers are dull yellow with 5 unequal petals about 0.5" long that never seem to fully open. 1-2 flowers in axillary clusters. Bloom time: July thru September. Found in moist to dry open woods and roadsides. This plant is also called the Coffee Weed and Java Bean as the seeds of related species were roasted as coffee substitute and eaten during times of famine. The seeds are poisonous if ingested.

Wild Lettuce (Lactuca canadensis)

A stout annual or biennial to 2-7 feet tall. Flowers are pale yellow with long beaked achenes with 1 rib on each side. Leaves are alternate, simple, triangular-ovate 3-8" long. Bloom times: July thru September. Found in fields and roadsides. The milky latex of wild lettuce was used by American Indians as a remedy for poison ivy.

Mistflower (Canoclinium coelestinum)

Perennial herb 1-3 feet tall, spreading from rhizomes, stem is short and hairy. Leaves are opposite, broadly ovate-deltoid to heart-shaped, 2-4" long and 1-2" wide, palmately veined, short-hairy to smooth, tips accute, margins crenate-serrate, bases broadly tapering to heart-shaped. Petioles shorter than blades. Ray flowers are absent, disk flowers blue-purple 35-70; involucral bracts awl-shaped, purple tipped, nearly smooth, about 0.2" long, heads discoid, numerous in terminal corymbs. Bloom time July thru October. Found in moist woods, wet meadows, and other low areas. The name coelestinum means 'heavenly' in reference to the color of the flowers.

Indian Hemp (Apocynum cannabinum)

Erect branching perennial to 5 feet tall with milky sap. Leaves are opposite, entire, ovate to lanceolate from 2 to 5" long. The inforescence is a loose axillary cluster of small white to greenish-white urn shaped flowers overtopped by the foliage. Bloom times May-July and found along roadsides, dry waste places and woodland margins. American Indians used the berries and roots in weak teas for heart ailments and as a diuretic. However, this plant is considered poisonous. The stems have been used for making rope.

 

Common Yellow Flax (Linum medium)

Lore: The name 'Linum' is the latin word for the fiber used to make linen. There is little lore associated with our native Flaxes, however, the blue flowered Common Flax (Linum usitatissimun ) introduced to this country from Europe has been used there for many thousands of years for the making of fabric. This Flax has been cultivated and escaped from cultivation for so long that the original location of origin is not known. The white linen made from the fibers symbolized purity and was used to make robes for the priests of many cultures including Egyptians. There are many biblical references to linen. (Grieve) Linseed oil is made from the seeds.

Medical Uses: Linum usitatissimun has been used for medically for various external and internal conditions for thousands of years and the Cherokees learned to use it after it was introduced in America.(Hamel/Chiltoskey) It is not known if they used the native Flaxes in a similar fashion.

Similar Species: There are about five Linum species native to our area. All are yellow flowered. Virginia Yellow Flax ( L. virginianum) is very similar. It has more divergent, flexible branches and very tiny sepal glands. These are difficult charters to distinguish. For some of the species the range and habitat are useful it helping to determine which is which. In the past some botanist grouped several species together as varieties of L. virginianum.