Cichory, Chicory (Cichorium intybus L.)

Family - Asteraceae

Stems - To 1.5m tall, glabrous to sparsely strigose and scabrous, herbaceous, branching, erect, with milky sap, from a massive taproot.

Leaves - Alternate. Basal leaves lyrate pinnatifid, resembling those of the genus Taraxacum, to +30cm long, +6cm wide, dentate, pubescent above and below, hirsute on midrib below. Cauline leaves lanceolate to linear, clasping, entire, much reduced.

Inflorescence - Typically 1-3 axillary flowers in upper portion of stems. Some flowers terminal. Lower flowers with reduced leaf(bract) subtending. Upper flowers with no bract or bract reduced and scalelike.

Involucre - Outer phyllaries 5-6mm long, acute, glabrous, +/-2mm broad, bulbous at base, green. Inner phyllaries to 1.1cm long, 2mm broad, linear, acute, typically with scarious margins and lacerate at apex, green.

Ray flowers - Ligule blue to lilac, 5-toothed at apex, to -2cm long, 5-6mm broad, pubescent externally. Flowers fertile. Anthers blue, 4mm long, connate around style. Style blue above, white below, bifurcate. Stigma blue. Achenes -2mm long in flower. Pappus of short scales. Receptacle flat.

Disc flowers - Absent.

Photographic Location - Sycamore Ridge Ranch

Flowering - May - October.

Habitat - Roadsides, railroads, disturbed sites, waste ground. Also cultivated.

Origin - Native to Eurasia.

Other info. - Chicory is an extremely common roadside weed. It is probably the most easily recognizable plant in the state because of its big blue flowers and roadside habitat. During the hot summer months the flowers only stay open a short time in the morning. As the days cool the flowers stay open nearly all day.
The plant shown above is form intybus, having the typical blue corolla. Form album Neum. has white corollas. A third form, form roseum Neum., has rose-colored corollas.

Sweet Pinesap (Monotropsis odorata)

 Ericaceae (Heath Family)

Sweet Pinesap is a rare, herbaceous perennial wildflower with a geographic distribution in the southeastern United States. It occurs more often in North Carolina and Virginia and rarer in the remaining states.

Monotropsis odorata (Monotropsis – like Montropa from its physical appearance being similar to the genus Monotropa; odorata – odor from its strong odor of violets; sometimes being smelled before being sighted).

Monotropsis odorata attains a height of 5 to 10 centimeters. The plant is fleshy. The leaves are scale like. The flower stalk (peduncle) is purplish brown. The inflorescence is a nodding cluster of flowers at the top of the flower stalk. The flowers are pink or yellowish and pubescent inside. Upon emerging from the ground, the flowers are pendant. As the anthers and stigma mature, the flowers are spreading to all most perpendicular to the stem. The fruit is a capsule. As the capsule matures, the flowers become erect. Once ripened, seed is released through slits that open from the tip to the base of the capsules. The plant is persistent after the seeds have dispersed.



Photographic Location: Standing Stone State Park, TN

Monotropsis odorata flowers in mid to late spring. It is found in mature, moist, shaded, rich hardwood forests.

Monotropsis odorata is listed as threatened in Kentucky and Tennessee; endangered in Florida and Maryland. It is ranked G3, vulnerable by NatureServe.

White Bergamot, Basil Bee Balm (Monarda clinopodia L.)

Lamiaceae (Mint Family)

USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

Linnaeus named the genus Monarda in honor of a 16th century Spanish physician and botanist, Nicolas Bautista Monardes (1493-1588). Monardes never went to the Americas but was able to study medicinal plants in Spain because Spain controlled navigation and commerce from the New World.

Photographic Location: Standing Stone State Park, TN

The name "bee balm" implies that this plant is attractive to bees. Although bees do visit this plant, the long, tubular flowers make the nectar less accessible to bees, but more easily reached by long-tongued butterflies and flies. The fresh or dried leaves and flower heads can be brewed into a tea. They also blend well with other teas.

Corn Cockle (Agrostemma githago L.)

Caryophyllaceae (Pink Family)

Pink Family members are perennial or annual herbs with mostly opposite, entire leaves and swollen nodes on the stem. The inflorescence is basically cyme-like. Fifteen genera and 45 species are found in TN.

Annual to 3 ft tall with the stem and branches thinly hairy. Leaves are opposite, entire, linear to Ianceolate, to 5 in. long and 0.4-in. wide. The flowers are solitary at the ends of the branches on stalks to 8 in. long. The calyx-tube is 0.5 to 0.7-in. long with lance- linear lobes from 0.8 to 1.6 in. long, usually longer than the petals. The petals are rose to reddish, oblanceolate, from 0.8 to 1.2 in. long. 

Occasional. Widely and thinly scattered in TN. A native of Europe now widely established as a weed of grain fields and waste places in most of the e U.S., more abundant north. Jul-Sep. 

The genus name is from the Greek agros (field) and stemma (crown).

Eight species are listed for Tennessee. The genus name is from arena (sand) in which many of the species grow. The plant is toxic and has been known to cause poisoning in livestock and humans. 

Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum Roth)

Liliaceae (Lily Family)

USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

Soft, grasslike leaves and a 1-2 ft., leafless flowering stalk rise from a bulb. The stem bends so that the pink flowers, borne in a cluster at the top, nod toward the ground. An umbel of many pink or white flowers at the tip of a long, erect, leafless stalk, bent like a shepherd’s crook; a basal cluster of several long, narrow leaves. All parts of the perennial have a mild, oniony scent.


Photographic Location: Standing Stone State Park, TN

This plant is closely related to the Autumn Wild Onion (A. stellatum) but differs in its unique nodding flower cluster and earlier flowering. One of the rarer Carolinian species because of its restricted habitat.
It is principally found on Lake Erie islands, the southern most land in Canada.
It is edible and has medicinal uses similar to garlic. (Lamb/Rhynard).
Eaten sparingly by Northwest Coast First Nations. They were steamed in pits lined with cedar boughs and covered with lichen and alder boughs. After they were eaten, or dried in strings or on mats or pressed into cakes. EDIBLE PARTS: Leaves, bulbs and bulblets. Field garlic (A. vineale), introduced from Eurasia and northern Africa, is too strong for most tastes. Gather leaves during spring and fall. Gather bulbs in the second year when they are large enough to use like cultivated onions. Flower stem bulblets are collected during the summer. Use as domestic onions, for seasoning or raw in salads. Bulbs can be used raw, boiled, pickled or for seasoning. Their strong taste can be reduced by parboiling and discarding the water. To freeze onions or garlic, one should coarsely chop, blanch two minutes, drain, pat dry and place them into plastic bags. The bulbs can also be dried for use as seasoning. Use flower bulbs to flavor soup or for pickling. Attracts hairstreak butterfly. The city of Chicago gets its name from the Algonquin Indian name for this plant, chigagou.

Wild hydrangea, Sevenbark (Hydrangea arborescens L.)

Hydrangeaceae (Hydrangea Family)

USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

Small, mound-shaped, densely multi-stemmed shrub, 3-6 ft. tall, wild hydragea is often broader than high at maturity. The flat-topped clusters of delicate, greenish-white flowers are the deciduous shrub’s main landscape feature. Some flowers are so heavy as to weigh the stem to the ground. Fall foliage is insignificant. 

Photographic Location: Standing Stone State Park

Vasevine, Leatherflower (Clematis viorna L.)

 
Ranunculaceae (Buttercup Family)

USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

If you are used to the showy, spreading petals (actually sepals) of the various kinds of cultivated clematis, you will be surprised to find that leatherflower is a member of that genus.  So different from the others, is Clematis viorna, and other similar species also called leatherflowers, that they are placed in a special section of the genus, and have been placed in their own genus in the past, the genus Viorna.

Leatherflowers are in the Ranunculaceae, the Buttercup Family, like Species of the Week number 4, Thimbleweed.  Leatherflowers, like thimbleweeds and most members of the Buttercup Family, have no petals.  Instead the sepals are modified to look like petals.  In leatherflowers, the four sepals are tough and leathery, hence the common name, and are a subdued red-purple shade.  The sepals are fused towards the base, and curl back at the tips, forming a very elegant urn-shaped flower.  The leaves are compound, being composed of three, five or seven leaflets.  Only two leaflets are seen in the picture at left, but three can be made out in the picture below.  The plant is a vine, and climbs over other plants.

Once fertilized, the flowers develop into fruits, which are also very interesting, as seen in the second picture.  The fruit is called an achene by botanists.  This is defined as a dry, one-seeded fruit, with the outer wall tightly enclosing the seed.  In leatherflowers, and in other clematis species, the achene has a long, hairy tail attached.  Many achenes cluster together, with the tails sticking out in a loose spiral.  These clusters are very dramatic and quite decorative.


Photographic Location: Standing Stone State Park TN

Clematis viorna is found in moist woods and thickets from Pennsylvania to Illinois and Missouri, south to Georgia and Mississippi.  The genus Clematis is found worldwide throughout the temperate and subtropical regions.  The name Clematis is Greek and refers to some climbing plant, though no one is sure exactly which.

Carolina Rose, Pasture Rose (Rosa carolina L.)

Rosaceae (Rose Family)

Synonyms: Rosa carolina var. carolina, Rosa lyoni, Rosa serrulata

USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

A low, freely suckering shrub, Carolina rose grows 1-3 ft. high. From thorny stems are borne fragrant, 2 in. wide, 5-petaled, pink flowers. Flowers occur singly or in small clusters. The fruit, a hip, turns from dark green to bright red as it ripens.

Photographic Location: Sycamore Ridge Ranch

The Carolina Rose is a member of the rose family (family Rosaceae) which includes about 2,000 species of trees, shrubs, and herbs worldwide; approximately 77 native and 9 naturalized tree species and many species of shrubs and herbs in North America. 

Many parts of various Rosa species are edible, including the young shoots, petals, and the false fruits or rose hips, which may vary in size and flavor. some rose hips taste sweet like raspberries, while others are bitter. Rose hips soften after a frost and generally acquire a sweet, acid, and aromatic flavor. To extract the pulp, gently press the hip between the fingers and the pulp will come out at the base.  

Carolina Thistle (Cirsium carolinianum (Walt.) Fern. & Schub.)

Family - Asteraceae

Stems - Erect, to +1.2m tall, branching above, hollow, herbaceous, tomentose to hirsute below, arachnoid pubescent above, carinate, from weak roots.

Leaves - Alternate. Lowest leaves petiolate. Petioles to +15cm long. Blade to +20cm long, +3cm broad. Cauline leaves sessile, linear-oblong, weakly lobed, with spines on margins only, greatly reduced above, to 15cm long(below), +/-1.5cm broad.

Inflorescence - Loose paniculate or cymose arrangement of flower heads terminating stems. Peduncles arachnoid pubescent, long, naked. Each peduncle typically subtended by a small foliaceous bract. Bracts arachnoid pubescent and prickle-margined.

Involucre - To 2cm tall(long), +/-1.5 in diameter, viscous. Phyllaries imbricate, tightly appressed, with a conspicuous whitish gland on midrib, sparse arachnoid pubescent to very sparse pilose, each tipped by a long thin bristle (to +3.5mm long).

Ray flowers - Absent.

Disk flowers - Corolla rose-pink to pinkish-purple for most of length, whitish near base, to +/-2cm long, 5-lobed, glabrous. Lobes 3.5mm long, linear. Stamens 5. Anthers pinkish-purple, connate around style, typically exserted. Style rose-pink, well exserted, glabrous, 2.6cm long. Achenes (in flower) glabrous, white, 2mm long, angled. Pappus of white plumose bristles to 1.6cm long.

Photographic Location - Falls Creek Falls State Park TN.

Flowering - May - July.

Habitat - Rocky open woods, bluffs, ravines, valleys, thickets.

Origin - Native to U.S.

Other info. - This is an easy plant to ID in the field. The sticky phyllaries with their large whitish glands and long bristle tips are a dead give-away for the species, as well as the long, naked peduncles. It would make a good garden subject as it requires no care and has practically no spines compared to other members of the genus.

Scarlet Beebalm, Oswego Tea, Red Bergamot (Monarda didyma L.)

Lamiaceae (Mint Family)

USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

A dense, rounded, terminal, head-like cluster of bright red, tubular flowers atop a square stem. Scarlet beebalm is a popular perennial with scarlet-red flowers in terminal tufts. The 3 ft. stems are lined with large, oval, dark-green leaves. Individual flowers are narrowly tube-shaped, tightly clustered together in 2 in. heads. The leaves have a minty aroma.

This species is coarser than true mints (Mentha) but is very showy and frequently cultivated in gardens. Hummingbirds are especially attracted to the red flowers. The alternate common name Oswego Tea refers to the use of the leaves for a tea by the Oswegos of New York. Early colonists also used the plant for this purpose when regular tea was scarce. A white-flowered variant is sometimes grown in gardens.

It is susceptible to powdery mildew, but some cultivars, such as Jacob Cline, are mildew resistant.

Photographic Location: Fall Creek Falls State Park TN.

Linnaeus named the genus Monarda in honor of a 16th century Spanish physician and botanist, Nicolas Bautista Monardes (1493-1588). Monardes never went to the Americas but was able to study medicinal plants in Spain because Spain controlled navigation and commerce from the New World.

Virginia Sweetspire, Tassel-White (Itea virginica L.)

Saxifragaceae (Saxifrage Family)

USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

Virginia sweetspire is a mound-shaped, slender-branched, deciduous shrub to 8 ft. Small, white flowers bloom in 4 in. spires that droop with the arching branches. Flowers open from base to tip so that the plant appears to bloom for a long time. Leaves turn red to purple in fall and persist well into the winter. This plant is semi-evergreen in the southern part of its range.

Photographic Location: Fall Creek Falls State Park TN.

The long tassels of white flowers and red fall foliage make this an attractive ornamental. Most effective in massed plantings, as single plants tend to be scraggly.

Catclaw sensitive briar, Little-leaf mimosa, Littleleaf sensitive-briar (Mimosa microphylla Dry.)

Fabaceae (Pea Family)

Synonyms: Schrankia uncinata

USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

Photographic Location: Fall Creek Falls State Park TN.

Weak, sprawling stems, up to 3 ft. long, are armed with hooked prickles. Bi-pinnately compound leaves, having an airy appearance. The leaflets are sensitive to the touch if one brushes against them or touches them, they immediately fold up against each other, suggesting the name sensitive briar. They also close at night and in cloudy weather. The fragrant flowers look like small pink balls and grow along the stem at varying intervals. They have 4 or 5 sepals, 4 or 5 united petals, 8–10 pink or rose-purple stamens, and 1 pistil flower heads occur on stalks from leaf axils. The fruit is a long, slender pod, densely covered with prickles.

Smooth-leaf Sensitive-brier is a member of the pea family (Fabaceae), which includes trees, shrubs, herbs, and vines with compound or occasionally simple leaves and flowers usually in clusters.

Carolina Desert-Chicory, False Dandelion (Pyrrhopappus carolinianus (Walt.) DC.)

Asteraceae (Aster Family)
 
General: Annual or biennial, 8-36 in. tall, from a large taproot; stems and branches smooth or minutely hairy, with milky sap. 
 
Leaves: Alternate, simple, oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic 3-10 in. long .04-2.5 in. wide, pinnately veined, smooth or minutely hairy; tips acute to acuminate; margins toothed to pinnatifid; bases wedge-shaped.
 
Flowers: Ray flowers pale yellow, numerous, 0.8-1,0 in. long; disk flowers absent; involucres about l in. high, 1 inner series of bracts and several outer series, inner bracts with distinctive 2-lobed thickenings at the tip; heads 1 to several on slender stalks.

 
June-September.
 
Fruits: Round, ribbed achenes, tapered toward each end, with a long beak tipped with short reflexed white hairs pappus a tuft of tan hair like bristles.

Photographic Location: Sycamore Ridge Ranch
 
Where Found: Roadsides, fields, and waste places throughout the southeastern U S north to MD, IN, and NE. Throughout TN. Common
 
NOTES: This plant, also called Leafy False Dandelion is similar to Common Dandelion but has stem leaves in addition to basal leaves. Often visited by short-tongued bees.

Great Laurel, Wild Rhododendron, Rosebay Rhododendron, White Laurel (Rhododendron maximum L.)

Ericaceae (Heath Family)

USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

Evergreen, thicket-forming shrub or tree with short, crooked trunk, broad, rounded crown of many stout, crooked branches, and large white blossoms. Great-laurel or rosebay rhododendron is a loose, open, broadleaf evergreen with multiple-trunks, upright branching, and the largest leaves of all native rhododendrons. The plant grows 4-15 ft. in the north, but can grow 30 ft. high in favorable sites. Its foliage is dark blue-green and leathery. Large, bell-shaped, white to purplish-pink, spotted flowers appear in terminal clusters of 16-24.

Photographic Location: Fall Creek Falls State Park in TN.
 
Rosebay Rhododendron is abundant in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Often grown as an ornamental, it is one of the hardiest and largest evergreen rhododendrons. The wood is occasionally used for tool handles, and a home remedy has been prepared from the leaves.

Mountain Laurel, Calico Bush (Kalmia latifolia L.)

Ericaceae (Heath Family)

USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

Photographic Location: Fall Creek Falls State Park, TN

The broadleaf evergreen mountain-laurel is usually a 12-20 ft. shrub, but is occasionally taller and single-trunked, attaining small tree stature. Evergreen, many-stemmed, thicket-forming shrub or sometimes a small tree with short, crooked trunk; stout, spreading branches; a compact, rounded crown; and beautiful, large, pink flower clusters. Its flowers are very showy. They are bell-shaped, white to pink with deep rose spots inside, and occur in flat-topped clusters. The leaves are oval, leathery, and glossy, and change from light-green to dark-green to purple throughout the year.

Mountain Laurel is one of the most beautiful native flowering shrubs and is well displayed as an ornamental in many parks. The stamens of the flowers have an odd, springlike mechanism which spreads pollen when tripped by a bee. The wood has been used for tool handles and turnery, and the burls, or hard knotlike growths, for briar tobacco pipes. Linnaeus named this genus for his student Peter Kalm (1716-79), a Swedish botanist who traveled in Canada and the eastern United States.