Have you taken a walk in the woods with a toothache? Relief may have been nearby. This guest wildflower blog, like my last one, doesn’t describe a colorful, flashy flowering plant. Instead, you will read about Common or Northern Prickly-Ash, sometimes called “Toothache-Tree.” Its scientific name is Zanthoxylum americanum, meaning “American yellow-wood.”

First, the details of identification. Prickly-Ash grows in dry to moist (but not usually wet) woodlands, in places where sun shines: woods edges, clearings, gully and stream banks, and sometimes in open disturbed sites. Often you’ll find more than one because it spreads from underground roots, as well as seeds. During the growing season, two features readily identify it: paired thorns along the twigs, especially at leaf nodes, and long, compound leaves that are feather- or pinnate-compound. Walking through a patch of this woody understory tree, you may notice the thorns raking your clothes. It is not nearly as unpleasant as getting snagged by a Multifora Rose, which may stop you dead in your tracks.

Unlike ashes (its namesake), walnuts, hickories, and other trees and shrubs, it sports attractive, dark-green, shiny leaflets that tend to be oval, but tapering to the base and tip (most obvious on the leaflets near the end of the frond), and the leaflets closest to the stem are shorter and smaller than the leaflets near the tip. There are usually 5 to 11 leaflets on each leaf.

I haven’t featured enough prairie wildflowers this summer. The Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge (Jasper County), Whiterock Conservancy (Carroll County), and Kuehn Conservation Area (Dallas County) are some of my favorite prairie outings within easy striking distance of Des Moines. Within the Des Moines city limits, the plantings around Gray’s Lake are the best place to find prairie natives. I took all of the pictures enclosed below at the Neal Smith refuge.

This week’s featured plant is native to much of the eastern U.S. and Canada. Tall coreopsis (Coreopsis tripteris) lives up to its name, growing up to eight or nine feet in height. Like many prairie wildflowers, it’s a member of the aster family with yellow ray flowers. Distinguishing it from other tall plants in the same family is straightforward. Cup plants and compass plants have completely different leaves, don’t branch much near the top, and have yellow center disks rather than brown ones, like tall coreopsis. Ox-eye flowerheads have yellow centers too, and the plants rarely grow taller than four to five feet.

Tall coreopsis is also known as tall tickseed. According to the Missouri Botanical Garden website, “Plants in the genus Coreopsis are sometimes commonly called tickseed in reference to the resemblance of the seeds to ticks.”

This post is a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

Many late summer wildflowers are loving the hot and wet weather we’ve had recently. I’ve noticed Jeruslaem artichoke, wingstem, and common sneezeweed thriving along trails in the Des Moines area.

This week’s featured Iowa wildflower is native to most of North America east of the Rocky Mountains and typically grows in wet habitats, including roadside ditches as well as higher-quality wetlands.

I took all of the enclosed photos of Common boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) near the Windsor Heights bike trail, behind the Iowa Department of Natural Resources building on Hickman Road.

As a bonus, I’ve included at the end of this post some pictures of goldenrods with bizarre leaf clusters. I found them growing in Colby Park, near the other end of the Windsor Heights trail. Naturalist and photographer Leland Searles told me the strange foliage comes from a disease called aster yellows. Caused by a “bacterium-like organism called a phytoplasma,” aster yellows can affect some 300 different species, including common food crops and garden plants. Experts recommend removing infected plants as soon as possible, so keep that in mind if you see signs of aster yellows in your yard.  

I don’t often feature vines for Iowa wildflower Wednesday, because I can rarely identify them. This vine is so abundant near the Windsor Heights bike trail that I was motivated to learn more. At first I thought it was Moonseed (Menispermum canadense), but the flowers didn’t match, and the vines are blooming now, rather than in late spring/early summer like moonseed.

Naturalist and photographer Leland Searles confirmed that this vine is Bur cucumber (Sicyos angulatus), “central Iowa’s only native cucurbit.” Sometimes called Star cucumber or one-seed burr cucumber, this species is native to most of North America east of the Rocky Mountains. The vine “produces both staminate (male) and pistillate (female) flowers on the same plant.” I enclose below pictures of both kinds of flowers, blooming on vines large and small.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

A recent day trip to the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge near Prairie City drove home that I haven’t visited enough restored prairies this summer. So many native plants are blooming along the walking paths near the visitor’s center there. Cup plants are past their peak, but several kinds of goldenrods are coming on strong, and sawtooth sunflowers and stiff goldenrods are starting to bloom.

Hay fever sufferers, be warned: more and more giant ragweed plants are budding along central Iowa bike trails. Those are responsible for many of the seasonal allergies commonly blamed on goldenrods.

This week’s featured plant is native to much of the U.S. and Canada. It thrives in a wide range of habitats: “open to partially shaded areas in floodplain forests, swamps, thickets, moist black soil prairies, low areas along rivers and ponds, seeps and fens, marshes, and drainage ditches.” It also “grows easily in a home garden with average to moist soil.” I took these photographs of Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) in a butterfly garden next to a local school.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

Mid-summer wildflowers are giving way to those that bloom in late summer. I am still seeing some American bellflower, jewelweed, and white snakeroot flowering along central Iowa bike trails, but more common evening primrose, wingstem, and goldenrods have been blooming lately.

Today’s featured plant is in the Monarda genus of the mint family. Many mints are of European origin, but Monarda plants are native to North America, including Monarda punctata. Better known as spotted bee balm or spotted horsemint, Monarda punctata is related to horsemint (wild bergamot, or bee balm), which I see much more often along bike trails, as well as to the bright red Oswego tea. Spotted bee balm doesn’t grow as tall as those relatives; plants can range from six inches to three feet in height. The Illinois Wildflowers and Minnesota Wildflowers websites contain botanically accurate descriptions of the leaves and flowers. The plants attract many pollinators and grow easily in gardens. The Minnesota Wildflowers site notes, “Crushed leaves and seedheads both green and dried give off a wonderful pungent odor and which I’ve…loved as a potpourri.”

Several pictures of spotted bee balm are after the jump. I took all of the photographs just off the Windsor Heights bike trail, in the large patch of native plants growing behind the Iowa Department of Natural Resources building on Hickman. Thanks to Bleeding Heartland user zborinka, who was one of the people to identify this plant for me.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

Today’s featured native plant is a member of the nightshade family (Solanaceae), and its flowers may look familiar if you grow tomatoes. While the edible nightshades include some popular foods, you wouldn’t want to eat Buffalo bur nightshade (Solanum rostratumum) fruit. In fact, you’re better off admiring this plant from a safe distance: “every part of it is covered in very sharp, spiny prickles.”

I enclose below several pictures of Buffalo bur nightshade, also known as Buffalo-bur or Buffalobur nightshade. It’s native to the U.S.; the Minnesota Wildflowers site says “It was once considered a county-level noxious weed, but Round-up Ready crops took care of that.” Buffalo bur nightshade is not on Iowa’s noxious weeds list, unlike Carolina horse nettle, another Solanum genus plant.

If you missed last week’s Iowa wildflower Wednesday, I highly recommend checking out the incredible photos of sedges by guest diarist Leland Searles.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

Mid-summer wildflowers are near their peak now, and you may not have to leave town to find them. American bellflower is prevalent along most of the bike trails in the Des Moines area. During the past week I’ve seen the first common evening primrose and wingstem flowers opening.

Gorgeous stands of cup plant are in full flower too. Look for those along the trail that heads north from Gray’s Lake along Martin Luther King Drive in downtown Des Moines, or off the Windsor Heights trail near the junction with the Clive Greenbelt trail, or along the entrance to the Valley View Aquatic Center parking lot in West Des Moines.

Today’s featured plant may or may not truly belong in central Iowa. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service shows Iowa within the native range, which covers most of eastern North America. But I have been told that the original range of Black cohosh, also known as black bugbane, probably did not extend as far west as Des Moines. The common names are a bit confusing, given that this plant has white flowers. According to the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden’s website, “The ‘black’ in the name refers to the color of the root (a rhizome) which is a dark brown.” Incidentally, Blue cohosh, the focus of an Iowa wildflower post last month, has yellow flowers.

I enclose below several pictures of black cohosh, a popular plant with herbalists, especially for inducing labor and treating symptoms of menopause or hot flashes in breast cancer survivors. Scroll to the end for a bonus picture of an Asiatic dayflower blooming. As the name suggests, that plant is not native to North America, but it has become widespread, and you’ll often see it in gardens. Many people consider dayflower an undesirable weed, but I enjoy seeing the flowers pop up in our yard.

This week’s featured plant is my favorite summer woodland wildflower. American bellflower (Campanulastrum americanum or sometimes Campanula americanum) is native to much of North America east of the Rocky Mountains. You can find its bluish-purple star-shaped flowers all over central Iowa now, especially along bike trails. If you take a closer look, watch where you step, because poison ivy thrives in similar habitats and soil conditions.

The American bellflowers pictured below are all blooming near woodland edges in Windsor Heights and Urbandale.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

More plants in the aster family are now flowering across Iowa. I have trouble identifying asters, especially the ones with white ray flowers and yellow center disks. The website of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas took the pressure off by commenting, “The many small-flowered asters found in eastern North America are often difficult to distinguish from one another, as are many of the large-flowered species.” These descriptions of similar-looking white asters give you a sense of how complicated it can be to identify plants in this group, even for experts.

I enclose below pictures of three or four different aster species you may find blooming in Iowa this month. I believe at least two of them are native; one is an invasive plant from Europe. You don’t necessarily need to explore natural habitats to find these wildflowers. Some are opportunistic enough to grow on low-quality soil in vacant lots or along roadsides. I have a soft spot for the weedy aster species, because unlike, say, wild parsnip, they aren’t hurting anyone.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

I’m bending the rules again by featuring a European native rather than a plant endemic to Iowa. Bittersweet nightshade (Solanum dulcamara) can be found in most of the United States and Canada, especially “in the eastern and north-central United States, […] the upper Great Lakes states […] and the Pacific Northwest.” This “semi-woody vine” is sometimes known as climbing nightshade, wood nightshade, or European bittersweet. Like dayflower, it has become widespread in Iowa and many other states. Some people call such plants “nativized.”

Bittersweet nightshade is not on Iowa’s noxious weed list, unlike fellow European invader poison hemlock or Carolina horse nettle, a native North American plant. I’ve mostly seen this vine growing on fences at the edges of yards, rather than in unspoiled habitat. I took all of the enclosed pictures right here in Windsor Heights. Canadian photographer Brian Johnston has taken phenomenal close-up shots of Bittersweet nightshade flowers. Click through; you won’t be disappointed.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

Happy Independence Day to the Bleeding Heartland community! I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend–preferably not by setting off amateur fireworks. Although the Iowa House voted this year to legalize fireworks, the bill never came to a vote in the Iowa Senate. So amateur fireworks are still illegal, which is just as well, since they cause too many emergency room visits and distress for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. We caught the fireworks display after the Iowa Cubs baseball game on Friday night and are going out in a little while to see the Windsor Heights fireworks.

The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation marked the holiday by posting some stunning pictures of Iowa wildflowers, “nature’s fireworks.”

Alfie Kohn noted today that socialists authored both the Pledge of Allegiance and the words to “America the Beautiful,” which for my money should be our national anthem.

Speaking of which, former Iowa Insurance Commissioner Susan Voss sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the Iowa Cubs baseball game last night. Who knew she had such a good voice?

Two Democratic presidential candidates spent the day in Iowa. Senator Bernie Sanders and many supporters walked the parade in Waukee, a suburb of Des Moines. Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley was in Independence, Dubuque, and Clinton.

As is our family’s custom, I took the kids to the Windsor Heights parade this afternoon. It’s one of the smaller parades in the Des Moines area, which explains the relatively sparse presidential campaign presence. On the Republican side, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal was there; he also walked the Urbandale parade route earlier in the day. A few volunteers handed out stickers for Ben Carson, and I didn’t see any other GOP campaigns represented. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton’s campaign had a small presence; apparently more supporters walked for her in Waukee.

U.S. Representative David Young (IA-03) was working the crowd along the parade route. One of his potential Democratic challengers, Desmund Adams, mingled with Windsor Heights residents before walking the Waukee parade.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome. After the jump I’ve enclosed a few photos from the Windsor Heights parade, including one wildflower shot, inspired by the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation. I also posted the roll call from the Iowa House vote in May to approve the fireworks legalization bill. That legislation split both the Democratic and Republican caucuses.

Since last week’s featured wildflower was so unobtrusive, I’m going to the other extreme today with one of the showiest wildflowers around. The bright red flowers, not often seen in natural Iowa habitats, are also appropriate for July 4 week. Ruby-throated hummingbirds and Swallowtail butterflies feed on the nectar.

Technically, Oswego tea (Mondarda didyma), also known as scarlet bee balm or red bergamot, is not an Iowa wildflower. Although the Natural Resources Conservation Service website shows Iowa within the native range for this plant, the Illinois Wildflowers website describes the plant as “native to the Northeastern states, but its original range did not extend as far to the west as Illinois.” Likewise, Sylvan Runkel and Alvin Bull write in Wildflowers of Iowa Woodlands that oswego tea is indigenous to the eastern U.S. and “has escaped from garden plantings in our area. Its beautiful crimson flower may brighten woodlands in late summer.”

Oswego tea is closely related to Horsemint (bee balm, wild bergamot), a native plant common throughout Iowa along roadsides, pastures or woodland edges. Both plants have flowerheads that are a cluster of tube-shaped flowers without scent. However, the leaves of horsemint and oswego tea have a “minty aroma.”

Lately I’ve noticed the first American bellflowers blooming along central Iowa bike trails. That’s one of my favorite summer wildflowers. I don’t have any recent photos of bellflowers, but at the end of this post I included two shots of summer fruit growing in the wild.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.  

Today’s featured native plant is a perennial that “can be used as a ground cover in shaded areas,” but I doubt anyone in the Bleeding Heartland community will seek it out for a garden or flower bed. Common black snakeroot (Sanicula odorata), known in some sources by the common name Clustered black snakeroot and/or the Latin name Sanicula gregaria, has flowers so unobtrusive they can be difficult to see. Clusters of them develop into burs, which stick to clothing, shoes, and pets. White avens plants use the same effective, if annoying, seed dispersal method, but the black snakeroot flowers are not as eye-catching as white avens.

I enclose below several pictures of common black snakeroot, which is prevalent in and near wooded areas throughout much of North America east of the Rocky Mountains.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.  

Naturalist and photographer Eileen Miller has contributed stunning pictures as well as a description of Blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) for today’s installment of Iowa wildflower Wednesday. She found these plants, which are native to most of North America east of the Rocky Mountains, at Dolliver Memorial State Park. I highly recommend visiting that park if you are in striking distance of Webster County. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources website notes,

A unique facet of the sandstone formations at Dolliver are the “Copperas beds.” The towering 100-foot bluff on Prairie Creek is a cross-sectional view of the ancient river bed that is over 150 million years old. Over the ages, the erosive power of Prairie Creek uncovered this unique feature. The porous nature of the sandstone has caused many minerals such as calcite and sulfur to dissolve as the water seeps through. As the water evaporates, the mineral deposits are left behind. You can see many of these deposits in the sandstone cliffs, as well as petrified logs and sticks.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

Technical issues prevented me from publishing my wildflower diary on Wednesday, as planned. So today’s feature on a woodland native will double as the weekend open thread: all topics welcome.

I enclose below photos of Virginia waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum) at various stages of development.

Elderflowers are starting to bloom along central Iowa trails. If you notice these clusters of small white flowers (some pictures are near the end of this post), consider circling back to harvest the berries later this summer–if you can get to them before the birds do. Scroll to the bottom of this diary to see a ripe cluster of elderberries.

Who says wildflowers are harmless, pretty things? This week’s first featured plant can kill you. The second can give you a horrible blistering rash.

Normally I focus on native plants for my wildflower diaries, but I’m making an exception this week because European invaders poison hemlock (yes, that poison hemlock) and wild parsnip have both become widespread in Iowa. Learning to spot them will help you steer clear. If you have children who like to explore nature, I strongly encourage you to teach them to avoid wild parsnip. A friend’s son ran off the bike path to play and ended up with second-degree burns.

Speaking of wildflowers you should observe from a safe distance, larger poison ivy plants tend to bloom in June. The flowers are not conspicuous, but they are attractive.

This week’s featured wildflower is among several meadow rue species that are native to Iowa. Early meadow rue (Thalictrum dioicum) is a smaller plant that blooms earlier in the year than Purple meadow rue or Waxy meadow rue. Early meadow rue typically grows “in open woods and wood edges in sandy to loamy soil. It is quite shade tolerant (no full sun) and survives in moist to dry conditions.”

The meadow rues have male and female flowers, which look quite different and bloom on separate plants. As with the purple meadow rue Bleeding Heartland featured last summer, I was only able to capture the male flowers of early meadow rue in the photos enclosed below. The Minnesota Wildflowers and Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden websites include close-up shots of the female flowers.

I’ve also enclosed below some pictures of a “mystery” plant I found in a neighbor’s yard in Windsor Heights. The leaves and flower clusters look like early meadow rue, but the blossoms didn’t resemble either the male or female flowers. I hope some Bleeding Heartland reader who is more knowledgable about native plants will be able to identify the species.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

Iowans who venture to wooded areas this Memorial Day weekend will likely see many mid-spring wildflowers. Wild geranium and Virginia waterleaf are still going strong in my corner of the world, and you may find False rue anemone, May apples (umbrella plants) or Columbines in bloom. This week I saw the first flowers on black raspberry plants. If you see those, check back in late June or early July to pick the berries (technically, compound drupes). Wear jeans to avoid getting torn to pieces by the thorns.

This week’s featured wildflower was new to me on a recent visit to Dolliver Memorial State Park in Webster County. Bishop’s cap (Mitella diphylla) is native to much of the U.S. east of the Missouri River. It’s not a show-stopper, but some consider its “small delicate flowers […] very attractive and fairy-like.” As a bonus, I’ve also enclosed below a few pictures of liverwort, a non-flowering plant that thrives in damp and rocky habitats, as does Bishop’s cap. Liverworts are “the simplest true plants,” so ancient that they predate ferns and mosses as well as plants producing flowers and seeds.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

Final note: I saw what looked like a heavily pregnant doe the other day, which reminded me of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ good advice to “leave wildlife babies in the wild,” rather than attempting to rescue animals you may assume to have been abandoned. Deer are among the mammals that sometimes leave young offspring for a while. The mother is usually nearby.

Early spring wildflowers have given way to mid-spring bloomers across Iowa. In prairie habitats, Eileen Miller has found some hoary puccoon and fringed puccoon blooming. In central Iowa wooded areas, May apples (umbrella plants), Virginia waterleaf, sweet cicely, and wild geranium are near their peak. Sweet William are still prevalent too, helping to compensate for the end of this year’s spectacular Virginia bluebells show. Buds are visible on many native plants that will flower in the late spring or early summer, including wild grapes and one of my favorites, Solomon’s seal.

A few rue anemone flowers are still blooming in Windsor Heights, which brings me to today’s featured plant. False rue anemone (Enemion biternatum) is easily confused with rue anemone. Both plants are among the earliest spring wildflowers to bloom and continue to flower for many weeks after other early flower have gone. Both plants initially have reddish-brown foliage, which turns green before long. Neither rue anemone nor false rue anemone flowers have petals. What look like petals are white or pinkish-white sepals. The Illinois Wildflowers, U.S. Wildflowers, and Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden websites all contain more detailed botanical descriptions as well as tips on distinguishing false rue anemone from rue anemone. Short version: the leaves are shaped differently, and rue anemone flowers usually have more sepals than the five sepals on false rue anemone flowers.

I’ve enclosed several photos of false rue anemone after the jump. This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.  

Once you learn to recognize a native plant, you often start seeing it where you’ve never noticed it before. So it was for me with Toadshade (Trillium sessile), also known as Toad trillium or Sessile trillium. As far as I knew, I’d never seen it until Eileen Miller pointed it out on a recent visit to the Ledges State Park in Boone County. A few days ago, a neighbor’s daughter asked me about a red flower in her back yard, and sure enough, a group of toadshade was blooming there. I’d never have expected to find it in Windsor Heights.

Toadshade isn’t as stunning as some of its trillium relatives, like Snow trillium, but it’s an attractive and distinctive plant. I’ve enclosed several pictures after the jump.

If you have a chance to visit a wooded area in Iowa soon, you are likely to see a variety of spring wildflowers. During the past week, I saw the first blossoms open on May apple (umbrella plant) and Virginia waterleaf. Several early spring wildflowers are mostly gone, but you might still find spring beauty, Virginia bluebells, or rue anemone. Several native plants that usually start blooming in April are still prevalent, such as sweet William (blue phlox), sweet cicely, littleleaf crowfoot or buttercup, violets, and Jack-in-the-pulpit. You’re also likely to find some maroon flowers touching the ground if you peek under wild ginger leaves.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

Today’s featured native plant is relatively rare and found mainly in wetlands. The naturalist and photographer Eileen Miller showed me a large stand of Marsh marigold on a recent visit to Dolliver Memorial State Park (Webster County), a beautiful area with some historically significant sites. Eileen contributed the photographs and text about these bright yellow flowers, which I’ve enclosed below.

Many spring wildflowers are peaking in central Iowa. A few days ago, my kids and I went out to pull up garlic mustard (an invasive plant) and saw all of the following native plants in bloom within a wooded area of less than an acre: spring beauty, Dutchman’s breeches, sweet William (blue phlox), sweet cicely, littleleaf crowfoot or buttercup, Virginia bluebells, spring beauty, toothwort, rue anemone, bellwort, violets, and Jack-in-the-pulpit.

Warmer weather and spring rains have caused woodland wildflowers to explode all over Iowa lately. This past week, I saw the first blossoms of sweet William (blue phlox), sweet cicely, and littleleaf crowfoot or buttercup.

I was fortunate to visit the Ledges State Park in Boone County recently with naturalist and photographer Eileen Miller. We saw carpet-like stands of spring beauty, bloodroot, and Dutchman’s breeches. Eileen also noticed a much less showy native plant, which I had never seen (or at least not been aware of seeing) outside books.

After the jump I enclose several pictures of pussytoes in bloom. The plants are native to most of North America. They are so unobtrusive that I would have walked right past them if Eileen had not pointed them out.

As a bonus, I included a photo of bloodroot and Dutchman’s breeches blooming together at the end of this post.

After a somewhat late start, many spring wildflowers are blooming now in central Iowa. If you walk in a wooded area over the next few days, you may see Virginia bluebells, spring beauty, toothwort, rue anemone, Dogtooth violets (also called trout lilies), or today’s featured native plant, Dutchman’s breeches. Thanks to the distinctive shape of the flowers, Dutchman’s breeches are among the easiest spring wildflowers to identify.

The arrival of spring also heralds the return of Harlan Ratcliff’s Central Iowa Butterfly Forecast, updated every two weeks at the Poweshiek Skipper site.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

This week’s wildflower diary is dedicated to Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, who may become the only Democrat to survive the 2014 Republican wave in a targeted U.S. Senate race.

New England Aster, known as Symphyotrichum novae-angliae or Aster novae-angliae, is native to most of the U.S. and Canada. The plant blooms in the late summer or early fall, and its many flowerheads stand out against the landscape with their purple or pink ray flowers and yellow or orange disk flowers. I’ve enclosed several pictures after the jump.

According to the Minnesota Wildflowers website, “New England Aster is one of the last flowers to bloom in the season.” On that note, Iowa wildflower Wednesday is going on hiatus until the spring. Previous posts in the series are archived here. Bleeding Heartland welcomes guest diaries featuring Iowa nature photographs at any time of the year.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

The peak blooming period for today’s featured plant is in late summer, but we’ve had an unseasonably warm October across Iowa, so I decided to run with it anyway. Great blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) is native to most of North America east of the Rockies. I enclose several pictures after the jump.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

Some late summer wildflowers are tall enough be seen from a mile away, some catch your attention with masses of flowerheads, and some make up for being low to the ground with brilliant-colored blossoms. Today’s featured wildflower is none of the above.

Plain gentian (Gentiana alba) is native to much of the Midwest, including Iowa. Also known as cream gentian, yellow gentian or sometimes white prairie gentian, it “grows in well drained soils of moist meadows, prairies and open woods with full sun to partial shade.” The plant usually is only 1 to 2 feet tall, and the white blossoms are either closed or barely open at the ends. According to the website of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden in Minnesota, “When the corolla lips are closed or just partly open it takes a large bee to force them apart to reach in for the nectar.”

I would have walked right past the plain gentian amid the taller grasses in a prairie patch at Whiterock Conservancy last month. Fortunately, Eileen Miller showed me some flowering plants. Only a couple of my pictures came out, and I’ve enclosed those below. I don’t know what kind of insect chewed up some of the leaves; mammalian herbivores are thought to avoid plants in the gentian family.

As a bonus, I included a picture of wild cucumber fruit, which Eileen showed me near a bank of the Middle Raccoon River. Wild cucumber (Echinocystis lobata) is a native vine and an interesting plant, but a warning to foragers: its fruit are not edible.

Full disclosure: asters can be hard to tell apart, even for experts, and I am not an expert. So while I’m fairly confident that the pictures below depict Sky blue aster, I wouldn’t bet the farm on it. They were blooming last month in prairie habitat at Whiterock Conservancy, and I suspect some are still blooming, as many asters continue to flower well into the Iowa autumn.

As a bonus, I’ve enclosed below a picture of one of my favorite late summer prairie wildflowers, rough blazing star. It was blooming near the patches of sky blue aster.

This post is also an open thread: all topics welcome.

Eileen Miller has contributed more stunning photos for this week’s edition of Iowa wildflower Wednesday. The featured flower is Downy gentian, also known as prairie gentian. I’ve never seen this flower blooming in real life. It’s among several plants in the gentian family that blossom in Iowa prairies during the early autumn.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

Today’s featured plant is native to most of the eastern half of the U.S. and Canada. I was unfamiliar with white turtlehead (Chelone glabra) until Eileen Miller pointed it out to me during a visit to Whiterock Conservancy a few weeks ago. Flowers can appear anytime from July through September, and they are easy to recognize because of the “turtlehead” shape.  

I’ve enclosed several pictures of white turtlehead after the jump. This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

This week’s featured wildflower is native to almost all of North America and thrives in sunny spots with relatively wet soil. After the jump I’ve posted several pictures of Common sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale). As you can probably guess from the Latin name and the alternative common names Fall sneezeweed or Autumn sneezeweed, this plant blooms in the late summer or early fall. Eileen Miller showed me this patch of sneezeweed in a wet area of Whiterock Conservancy earlier this month.

The name sneezeweed made me wonder whether this plant was allergenic for many people, as is ragweed, which also blooms in the late summer. But according to the website of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas in Austin, “The common name is based on the former use of its dried leaves in making snuff, inhaled to cause sneezing that would supposedly rid the body of evil spirits.”

This post is also an open thread: all topics welcome. As tonight marks the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, I also want to wish a very happy new year to all the Jews in the Bleeding Heartland community.

I’ve been to Whiterock Conservancy lots of times, but last week was my first visit in the company of naturalist and photographer Eileen Miller. Walking through a seep near the Middle Raccoon River, Eileen showed me quite a few native plants that I’d never recognized before, including this week’s featured wildflower. Flat-topped aster (Doellingeria umbellata) is also commonly known as flat-topped white aster or parasol whitetop. I’ve enclosed several photographs after the jump.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

If you’ve been on Iowa country roads or bike trails lately, you’ve probably seen plenty of goldenrods in bloom. You may also have seen today’s featured wildflower, especially in prairies or prairie remnants. After the jump I’ve posted several photographs of Stiff goldenrod (Oligoneuron rigidum), a member of the aster family that is native to much of North America east of the Rocky Mountains.

I took most of these pictures during a recent visit to Iowa State University’s Reiman Gardens, well worth seeing if you’re in the Ames area. The facility is best known for its incredible butterfly enclosure, containing dozens of tropical plants and hundreds of insect species not native to Iowa. For that reason, I was surprised to see a strip of native plants growing near the front entrance.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome. I’ll put up a separate thread later tonight or tomorrow morning with Iowa reaction to President Barack Obama’s televised address about the U.S. response to ISIS.

After record rainfall during August in some parts of Iowa, it’s a banner year for mushrooms. Naturalist and photographer Eileen Miller has been taking spectacular pictures of fungi in the Raccoon River watershed. So this week, Bleeding Heartland is taking a break from wildflowers to focus native Iowa fungi. Eileen contributed a dozen photos and some commentary, which I’ve enclosed below. To my knowledge, I had never seen most of those mushroom species before.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

Today’s featured plant is native to much of North America and is edible in limited quantities. In fact, one experienced forager called this plant and its close relatives “my favorite wild edible.” After the jump I’ve enclosed several pictures of Yellow wood sorrel (Oxalis stricta).

As a bonus, I included two shots of American bellflower (Campanulastrum americanum), one of my all-time favorite Iowa wildflowers. It’s a common sight in wooded areas and along many shady bike trails throughout the summer.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

A native or restored prairie in full late summer glory is gorgeous, but I also have a soft spot for wildflowers that can survive some of the toughest conditions humans have inflicted on the landscape. Today’s featured plant flourishes in overgrazed pastures and on roadsides with poor soil, and is native to most of the continental United States. After the jump I’ve posted several pictures of Hoary vervain (Verbena stricta), which blooms across most of Iowa from late June to September.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

Today’s featured wildflower has been used medicinally for thousands of years and is still a common herbal remedy for depression. That said, St. John’s Wort can limit the effectiveness of many prescription medications, and some drug interactions could even be dangerous.

The St. John’s Wort family (Hypericaceae) includes Spotted St. John’s Wort (Hypericum punctatum), which is native to most of the eastern U.S., and Common St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum), a European native that has spread across most of North America. The plants are easily confused, because common St. John’s Wort can also have spots, though more faint than on spotted St. John’s Wort.

I think the photographs I’ve posted below depict common St. John’s Wort. The Illinois Wildflowers website describes the leaves and flowers in detail and notes that the plant is common in “mesic to dry sand prairies, barren savannas, degraded weedy meadows, gravelly areas along railroads and roadsides, pastures and abandoned fields, and sterile waste areas. There is a preference for disturbed areas with little vegetation.” That description applies to the part of the Meredith bike trail where I took these pictures a few weeks ago. Note to farmers: sheep and goats “readily graze” this plant but can die from a toxic reaction. Because common St. John’s Wort can be invasive, it is considered a noxious weed in some states to the west of Iowa.

This post is also a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

Iowa naturalist Eileen Miller has graciously contributed more of her photographs and commentary for this week’s wildflower diary. Today’s featured plant is Partridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata). In the pictures after the jump, you can see the bright yellow flowers and frequent pollinators in incredible detail. For central Iowans who want to get a closer look at this plant, lots of partridge pea are blooming near the south edge of Gray’s Lake in Des Moines, and along the Meredith bike trail nearby.

Until I read Eileen’s text, I never knew that partridge pea plants produce nectar outside the flowers.

This post is also an open thread: all topics welcome.

Today’s featured plant is native to most of North America and can thrive in a wide variety of soils and habitats. After the jump I’ve posted several pictures of tall cinquefoil (Potentilla arguta), a member of the rose family also known as white cinquefoil or prairie cinquefoil.

This post also serves as a mid-week open thread: all topics welcome.

This week’s featured flower resembles a common garden planting, but wild petunia (Ruellia humilis) is native to much of the U.S. east of the Rocky Mountains. In Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie, Sylvan Runkel and Dean Roosa note that this plant can grow “in a variety of habitats, from open woodlands to moist prairies to sand plains.” According to Iowa naturalist Leland Searles, the petunias often grown in gardens are in the nightshade family (Solanaceae) and have alternate leaves. Wild petunia is a member of the acanthus family (Acanthaceae) and has opposite leaves.

Also known as hairy wild petunia, this plant isn’t hard to grow in a garden, according to the Illinois Wildflowers website. A related species called smooth wild petunia has similar blossoms but smooth leaves.

I’ve posted below several pictures of wild petunia blooming, along with a couple of flowers I hope the Bleeding Heartland community will help me identify. As a bonus, I included a shot of fruit growing on May apples, also known as umbrella plants. May apples are one of my favorite spring wildflowers, but deer or other wildlife tend to eat all the fruit from the plants closest to my corner of Windsor Heights. I was lucky to find a stand of untouched May apples a couple of weeks ago while hunting for black raspberries. Supposedly you can make preserves from ripe May apple fruit, but I’ve never tried it, nor have I tried eating the fruit raw. This blogger found out the hard way that the seeds are toxic.