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I promised you yesterday that I would let you see the flora from Saturday's walk. I'm sure you barely slept with the anticipation so let's get started with Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) which invaded the United States in the 1800's. According to the Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States it is spread over most of the eastern half of the country. The lower Mississippi states seem to have missed the scourge as has Maine (so far). I often walk with clippers to cut the honeysuckle vines off of young trees.
I promised you yesterday that I would let you see the flora from Saturday's walk. I'm sure you barely slept with the anticipation so let's get started with Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) which invaded the United States in the 1800's. According to the Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States it is spread over most of the eastern half of the country. The lower Mississippi states seem to have missed the scourge as has Maine (so far). I often walk with clippers to cut the honeysuckle vines off of young trees.
The path along the new woods section is lined with sun-loving plants. I haven't identified this one yet but have my books ready. It seems that I often think I am taking a good photograph for identification but once I get home realize that I'm missing something important. such is the case here. I'll get a better book and a better look.
This Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale), below is much more common
Next to it was this one, St. JohnsWort?
Scattered widely and hiding among all the greenery were a few pinks such as this one.
One of my favorite August plant is Ironweed. I did a whole post on it a year ago. ROYAL FIELD, written when I just had about twenty followers and I wrote it in the "small" font. (What was I thinking?) I did edit it this morning to make it easier to read. Ironweed (Veronia fasciculata) is still as regal to me as it was then.
It isn't so great for cattle grazing, quickly spreading through a field.
Not so regal or loved is the Horse nettle (Solanum carolinense)
This member of the Nightshade family is vicious.
The flowers are nice if you don't think about the whole plant. In that photo above do you see the thorns coming out of the leaves? Well, now look at the stem. A field of nettles is not inviting at all. Woe to those who walk through in shorts and low socks. OW! I will leave you now until tomorrow when we will see a few more plants as we head across the hay field toward home.
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9 comments:
we've got the nasty nightshade stuff here too...
watch what you say TexWisGirl my post today is Nightshade.... i love all these flowers, the st johns most of all, they are all beautiful especially the ironweed purple spray.
The horse nettle really DOES look vicious! I can see why you like the ironweed. It's striking. Nice photos of your walk!
There are a lot of different types of ironweed, but I agree it is a nice bloom and good butterfly attractor.I am thinking meadow rue with your unknown.When I first started blogging the question was weed or flower. Native species or nonative is how I classify them. The honeysuckle bushes are spreaders in our Iowa forests and now they are trying to curtail their widespread growth.
It looks worse then a needle cushion even :)
The "Horse Nettle" is pretty !
Thanks for including the names. We have the horse nettle here, too, but I didn't know what it was called. It's very prickly...but the flower is pretty.
So that is what the name of my purple plant is! Thank you for the identification and the lovely photos.
Some of the farmers around here call the horse nettle sand spur.
nellie
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