Woodland Sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus). Blooming with a color that I like to call screaming yellow because it is so bright. Perfect for bringing cheer.
An herbaceous perennial native to eastern and central North America.
These cheery flowers attract many pollinators. Butterflies, skippers, beetles, pollinating flies, bees, and beneficial wasps seek their pollen and nectar.
The bloom season is summer into autumn. Wonderful flowers that I love to see trailside.
White Snakeroot (Ageratina altissima), is an herbaceous perennial that blooms from early autumn until frost. Native to the eastern United States and Canada. Its flowers are an important source of food at the end of the season for bees, moths, flies, and butterflies.
White Snakeroot plants grow to be 2 to 4 feet tall. They prefer shade to partial shade.
Like many plants that grow around us, this is a plant that is poisonous, containing tremetol. If you don’t know the plants in your gardens and in the woods around you, really really well, don’t eat them.
Late Thoroughwort (Eupatorium serotinum). A poisonous perennial herbaceous plant that is native to eastern North America.
Many insects such as bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, skippers, moths and beetles are attracted to these flowers mostly for the nectar.
Late Thoroughwort is one of the last wildflowers to bloom in the autumn, and before we know it, autumn will be here.
A member of the Mint family (Lamiaceae), Nettleleaf Sage (Salvia urticifolia) is an herbaceous perennial that is native to the southeastern United States, with some found in Pennsylvania which is the northernmost part of its range.
It grows to 1 ½-2 feet tall, with square stems of green, that are pubescent. Leaves are opposite on short petioles.
Nettleleaf Sage grows in open woods and forest edges. Those forest edges are where I find it with its blue and white, purple and white or all white blooms.
A joy to discover.
Everlasting Pea (Lathyrus latifolius) native to Europe. An herbaceous perennial vine that has 3 to 6 foot long winged stems. It’s occasionally found along woodland edges, at the sites of old homesteads or in this case at the site of an abandoned church along a dirt road in the mountains. The seeds of Everlasting Pea are poisonous, so though “pea” is in the name, don’t eat them.
Fourleaf Milkweed (Asclepias quadrifolia). Blooming in the palest of pink, along the trails up here in the mountains, May to July. Providing nectar for bumble bees and other bees, flies, ants, wasps, butterflies and moths. One of the larval host plants of Monarch Butterflies.
A perennial herb with a single stem emerging from a rhizome. Not a giant in the world of milkweeds, growing most often to 12-18 inches. Leaves, egg-shaped to lanceolate, are opposite or whorled. Unlike other milkweeds, this one enjoys living in the woods.
Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) is a perennial, herbaceous plant, native to eastern North America. I find it here in the higher elevations.
It spreads by rhizomes and makes a lovely groundcover in shade or part shade. I find it doesn’t care for the driest days of hot summer, but responds with appreciation when I water the many little plants.
This, from a few weeks ago. A bud, soon to be a flower.
Here’s the flower of Wild Ginger. If you didn’t know, you certainly would miss the flower. Gently push aside the soft leaves and there it will be. This is one of many plants that benefit from myrmecochory, or seed dispersal by ants. Pollinators are flies and beetles. It is a host plant to some moths and butterflies including the Pipevine Swallowtail.
More and more, spring is unfolding!
Solomon’s Plume (Maianthemum racemosum), an herbaceous perennial in the lily family (Liliaceae). The berries are a brilliant crimson right now at the end of October, and easy to spot along trails in the mountains. Just as easy to spot, in the spring, are the flowers which bloom for about 3 weeks, late April into May.
Solomon’s Plume is native across most of North America north of Mexico in elevations of up to 9,000 feet. It is a plant that prefers partial shade, and deep, moist, soft soil. But it can be found in dry, rocky soils much like where it is growing when I see it in the woods on my mountain.
In the autumn the leaves of Solomon’s Plume die back, disappearing until the spring when the plants sprout up again from rhizomes and secondary fibrous roots. Those sprouts become arching, slightly zigzag stems with alternate ovate leaves.
The tiny flowers that appear on the end of those arching stems are pollinated by beetles, flies and bees. The berries which replace the flowers during the summer each contain a few seeds, are round, and 1/4″ across.
This is what the berries look like mid-July. Gradually they’ll become the bright crimson berries that are on the plants now in October, waiting for birds such as Ruffed Grouse and Veery to dine on them. Helping distribute the seeds, spreading the plants further through the woods.
Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana). A poisonous, herbaceous, perennial plant with red stalks that can grow to be 3 to 10 feet tall. And under perfect conditions can reach more than 20 feet tall. It’s native to eastern North America, the Midwest, the South, through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona to the West Coast. All parts of the plant are highly toxic resulting in a variety of symptoms including death in rare cases. The berries are especially poisonous. If you must handle pokeweed, use protective gloves.
But Pokeweed does have a good side. The attractive green to dark purple berries are a good food source for many songbirds and other bird species. Small mammals, impervious to the toxins, also benefit from the berries. Pokeweed multiplies exclusively by seed which birds help to distribute. Those little seeds have an incredible viability of up to 40 years in the seed bank.
Woodland Sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus). An herbaceous perennial that often grows to 5 – 7 feet tall. It’s native to eastern and central North America and can be found along rocky trails and dry open sites.
As this example, as it dances in the dappled sunlight shows, the leaves are opposite with a smooth to slightly toothed margin and hairy underside.
Butterflies, Silvery Checkerspot (pictured above), Gorgon Checkerspot, and Painted Lady use the Woodland Sunflower as their larval host plant.
An abundance of other insects are attracted to Woodland Sunflowers. Some even to the point of exclusivity. There are certain bees which visit Woodland Sunflowers that will go to only this species of flower, or flowers of the Helianthus, or Sunflower genus. They are said to be oligolectic. Their larvae must be fed the pollen or nectar of those particular flowers in order to develop properly.
Woodland Sunflowers spread by rhizomes forming colonies. In the autumn as the flowers fade those colonies become prime territory for game birds, song birds, and small mammals gathering to enjoy the seeds.
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