Flora

-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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Royal Field

A full field of iron weed, festive in a royal show of purple. A purple that out shines all other shades as it grows tall among the weeds of August.

Purple was named for porphura, the Greek word for a particular type of mollusk that yielded the color we know as purple.  The mollusks were rare enough or difficult enough to process that the color purple was reserved for royalty or very wealthy people. 

 Lydia, in the bible was a wealthy woman because she sold purple cloth. Purple denotes extravagance and beauty.

But beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  A cattle farmer or a farmer cutting hay sees little beauty in a field of ironweed.

iron - a solid metal, tough, hard to destroy. Such is iron weed, Veronia altissima.  It gets a foothold in a field then soon takes over like a purple platoon of soldiers consistently creeping across a chosen plane.  As each plant is cut back, another or several others grow in its place, advancing until there is little room for grass. Grass, that valuable commodity used to feed cattle, horses or sheep whether raw in the field or cut and baled as hay. A field of purple means there is work to be done.  Ironweed takes over when soil lacks fertility.  Tough ironweed is important to infertile ground to prevent erosion but such a field indicates that someone should fertilize the field or let it rest without livestock for a few years. Cattle tromping over a field of ironweed will soon turn that field to mud where even less grass grows.

I, myself, refuse to be persuaded by reason.  Good sense and field management are lost ideas when I gaze upon a field of ironweed.  The power of purple prevails as my eyes and soul feast upon a royally embellished hillside. 

Like a pagan I recognize the creator in the creation. Like a peasant before royalty, I gaze upon ironweed, the queen of colorful weeds, and allow a momentary smile that this tall, bright plant, tough as iron has conquered another kingdom.