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Winged euonymous' younger stems and branches have geen bark and 2-4 cork-like "wings" (thin plates whose plane lies in a radius of the branch). Clusters of 1-3 flowers arise from leaf axils; individual flowers are about 1/3" (8 mm) across with four green sepals, four yellowish-green petals, four stamens, and a green central dome which bears the single pistil with a reddish, multilobed stigma. Four-lobed seed capsules become dark red or purple at maturity; they split to expose 1-4 reddish-orange arils.

Euonymus

Euonymus alatus

winged Euonymus [Blooms: May-Jun]

Seaside sandmat cyathia (cup-like reproductive structures typical of euphorbs) develop between pairs of leaves, typically one cyathium with a short reddish stalk per pair of leaves. On the rim of the cyathium are four to six red nectar glands; each nectar gland alternates with a narrow, elongate lobe. In the center of the cyathium is a female flower with a three-lobed, light green ovary topped by a tripartite style; the flower sits on a stout pedicel that elongates and curves as it matures. Between the central female flower and the rim of the cyathium are several male flowers, each consisting of a single stamen. Seaside sandmat prefers beach habitats around the Great Lakes and along the Atlantic coast.

Euphorbia

Euphorbia polygonifolia

seaside sandmat [Blooms: Jul-Sep]

Black bindweed flowers develop in singletons or pairs from the leaf axils or directly from the stem. Flowers are 1/8-1/4" long; they have 3-5 greenish-white, white, or light purple petal-like tepals, the outer three tepals with a ridge or keel down the midline on the outer surface. Six to eight stamens with purple anthers surround fused green styles with a dome-shaped stigma in the middle of the flower; the flower usually opens only partially (like a tulip). The fruit is three-sided, with a tubercle-covered surface, about 1/4" long, black when fully mature. Black bindweed is very similar to climbing false buckwheat (Fallopia scandens).

Fallopia

Fallopia convolvulus

black bindweed [Blooms: Jun-Jul]

Climbing false-buckwheat stems are round, angular, or ridged in section, often with hairs on the ridges. Racemes of flowers arise from the leaf axils; the flower stalks are usually vertical, 3-8" long and bear both erect flowers and drooping fruits. Individual flowers are greenish-white, about 3/16" across have eight stamens with white anthers and an ovary bearing a tripartite style; the thee outermost tepals (petals) have obvious wings, unsually with an undulating margin; the inner two tepals are simple ovals. The fruit (~3/8" long) has a greenish center with three white wings; the 3 outer tepals with enlarged wings enclose the seed. (The fruit resembles a much-enlarged version of the fruit of curly dock (Rumex crispus).) Climbing false-buckwheat is very similar to black bindweed (Fallopia convolvulus) but is far more common in Jackson Park.

Fallopia

Fallopia scandens

climbing false-buckwheat [Blooms: Aug-Sep]

The white, waxy, drooping flowers of greater snowdrop are born on leafless scapes (flower stems). The flowers consist of three white outer tepals and three white inner tepals; the outer tepals have distinctly narrowed bases while the inner tepals are more rectangular, usually with a green blotch at their base and tip or a bold green stripe running from base to tip. (Common snowdrop flowers have a single, restricted blotch of green on their inner tepals.) There are six stamens with yellow anthers recessed inside the edge of the inner tepals; the stamens form a ring around the style. The style is slender, cylindrical, and slightly longer than the stamens. The fruit is a spherical to ellipsoid green capsule that splits into thirds when ripe, releasing the seeds.

Galanthus

Galanthus elwesii

greater snowdrop [Blooms: Mar-Apr]

Snowdrop is the earliest blooming flower in Jackson Park (late February); individual blooms can persist for about a month. The bell-shaped flowers hang down on a thin peduncle from a smooth, hairless flower stalk up to 10" long. The flowers have six oval, half-spread tepals; the three outer tepals are white with rounded tips, the three inner tepals are white with green, notched tips and green stripes on the interior surface. There are six stamens with yellow-orange anthers and a single greenish-white style. The fruit is a green, egg-shaped enlarged ovary with a flattened distal tip that dangles form the peduncle. Snowdrops usually exist in a given spot because of a prior deliberate cultivation (in some recorded cases, up to 60 years earlier) and rarely pose an invasion threat; they typically propagate from bulbs. The source of the snowdrops in Jackson Park is unknown.

Galanthus

Galanthus nivalis

snowdrop [Blooms: Feb-Mar]

Cream gentian the leaves are olive-green, lance-shaped with a pronounced fold along the midvein, 3" long and 2" across, and clasp the stem. Although most leaves are opposite (in pairs), the leaves just below the flowers occur in a whorl of three. The flowers are mostly apical, some version of white or cream, tubular, with the petal's veins outlined in green, about 1-2" tall and 3/4" across, and oriented near-vertically. The five petals remain tightly appressed, with only a small opening where their apices meet; the five stamens and pistil with a bifurcated stigma are usually hidden from view. Bumblebees are the primary pollinators.

Gentiana

Gentiana alba

cream gentian [Blooms: Jul-Oct]

Honey locust is a native tree that grows 50-100' tall; it has a single trunk 2-3.5' in diamater. The bark on the trunk is gray-black, divided into plates with peeling edges; the bark of twigs and branches is smoother, brown, and hairless. New shoots are green and fuzzy. Leaves are alternate and invariably compound, either even-pinnate (i.e., the leaflets are all paired, with no terminal leaflet) all 6-14" long with 5-11 pairs of leaflets, or bipinnate (i.e., the primary divisions of the compound leaf are themselves pinnate) with 4-7 pairs of even-pinnate leaflets 6-14" long, each with 5-11 pairs of leaflets. Leaflets are 3/4-1.5" long and about a third as wide. Thorns, both simple and branched, are usually present, especially on the trunk, but a thornless form exists; newly formed thorns can be a brilliant red. Flowers are present in 2-5" long racemes, usually as either male or female, but perfect flowers may be present. The flowers are small (1/8-1/4" across) and greenish-yellow. The fruit is a 6-14" long, dark-brown seedpod.

Gleditsia

Gleditsia triacanthos

honey locust [Blooms: May-Jun]

American hops male and female flowers occur on separate plants. Actual female (pistillate) flowers occur in tight clusters ("aments") 3/4" long of 10-50 flower pairs on a stalk that arises from a leaf axil, each pair subtended by a bract; each flower has two long, thin styles. Male flowers have five pale green spreading sepals and five short, banana-shaped stamens. The fruit is a cone-like structure of overlapping bracts (originally present at the base of the female flowers) that surround the seeds; it is (obviously) found only on the female plants.

Humulus

Humulus lupulus

American hops [Blooms: Jul-Sep]

Dudley's rush culms (stems) vary from 8-30" tall, unbranched except for the inflorescence, light green, hairless, and round in section. At the base of the culm are one or two 12" long, 1 mm wide, flat basal leaves. The sheath of the leaves clasps the bottom inch or two of the culm; they may be light green, light brown, or tan; at the top of the sheaths are tiny, thick, cartilaginous ear-like lobes less than 0.5 mm wide. At the culm's apex is a branched inflorescence with 6-80 flowers. At the base of the inflorescence are 1-3 narrow bracts; at least one of the bracts extends beyond the inflorescence. Individual flowers are about 1/4" across, solitary at the end of short branches, each with six 4-5 mm long tepals in two layers, six stamens, and a pistil with a singe style; they are wind pollinated. The tepals spread somewhat as the fruit is developing.

Juncus

Juncus dudleyi

Dudley's rush [Blooms: May-Jun]

Soft rush can be 2-4' tall, often growing in clumps of culms. Culms terminate in an inflorescence 3/4-4" across and an underlying bract 4-12" long that looks more like an extension of the culm than a leaf so the inflorescence looks like it is growing out of the side of the culm. Individual flowers are 2-3.5 mm long with three lance-shaped sepals, three lance-shaped petals, three stamens, and single style emerging from a central ovary; the flowers are wind pollinated. Color of these elements varies from green to brown depending on stage in the life cycle; sepals, petals, and the ovary/capsule are all about the same length at maturity.

Juncus

Juncus effusus

soft rush [Blooms: May-Jun]

Path rush (aka, slender path rush, poverty rush) is a native perennial 4-12" tall. It occurs singly or in dense tufts; the culms are light to medium green, slender, and unbranched. The leaves are considered basal by some sources, alternate by others, slender (about 1 mm across and up to 10" long), medium green, hairless, and flat with margins that tend to roll upwards. Fertile stems bear a branched inflorescence at their tips that is 1/2-3" across, bearing an umbel-like cluster of up to ten solitary flowers (never larger groups); at the base of the inflorescence is three slender, leafy bracts up to 4" long (the larger are longer than the inflorescence) that form a "V". Individual flowers have six lance-shaped, light green tepals, 3-5 mm long; six stamens; and an ovary (later a seed capsule) with a three-part, feathery style. Fertilized flowers produce an ovoid seed capsule nestled in the crown-like tepals, often with a tiny point at its tip; it is never longer than the tepals. The seed capsule later splits in three segments, releasing the tiny (0.5 mm) seeds.

Juncus

Juncus tenuis

path rush [Blooms: ?-Jun]

Torrey's rush is 2-3' tall, with robust stems that are deep green, hairless, and circular in cross section; each stem bears 2-5 alternate leaves and 1-3 basal leaves. The central stem branches rapidly at its tip; each branch ends in a spherical flowerhead about 1/2-3/4" across. The lowest flowerhead in the array sits above a very long, thin bract (main image). There may be up to 23 flowerheads in the array. Individual flowerheads are composed of 25-100 florets that each have six stamens, a narrow ellipsoid ovary with a 3-part stigma (center of insert), and six tepals (sepals and petals) in two layers; all tepals are green, bract-like, lance-shaped, and 3-6 mm long. The flowerheads are more bristly than flower-like in appearance. The flowers are wind-pollinated. After fertilization, flowerheads turn brown and look very spikey.

Juncus

Juncus torreyi

Torrey's rush [Blooms: Jul-Aug]

Kochia's greenish-yellow flowers are 4-5 mm across. Perfect flowers have five green, bluntly-triangular sepals that develop wings along their outer face, no petals, five stamens each with two large yellow or pink anthers, and a divided style; pistillate flowers lack the stamens. The flowers are wind-pollinated. The fruit is a flattened, five-lobed, winged capsule nestled in the sepals that contains a solitary seed. ITIS says that the accepted name for this plant is Kochia scoparia; World Flora Online claims the proper binomial is Bassia scoparia.

Kochia

Kochia scoparia

kochia [Blooms: Jul-Aug]

Wood nettle plants may be either monoecious (separate male and female flowers on the same plants) or unisexual (only male or only female flowers). Male flowers are produced from branching cymes 4" long that arise from the leaf axils; female flower are produced from branching cymes, also 4" long, localized near the apex of the stem. Male flowers are small (1/8" across), consisting of five narrow, greenish-white sepals and five stamens; there are no petals but there is a vestigial pistil. Female flowers are about the same size (1/8" across) with four green sepals (two larger, two smaller) that look like tiny leaves with undulating edges and an ovary with a long, white, vertically-oriented J-shaped style that tapers to a point. The female flowers are wind-pollinated. The fruit is circular in outline but very flattened, green turning black with maturation, on a short winged stalk; the remains of the style are attached at the free end of the fruit.

Laportea

Laportea canadensis

wood nettle [Blooms: Aug-Sep]

Duckweed is a tiny, floating flowering plant (one of the smallest in the group) that is present on the lagoons and Columbia Basin from May through October. The flower is highly reduced — about 1 mm across consisting of a cup-shaped scale, a pair of tiny stamens, and a single pistil; I have never observed it. (The flowers are rarely produced — most reproduction is vegetative.) The combination leaf and stem is oval, 2-5 mm long and 1.5-3.5 mm across with a single rootlet up to 2 cm long dangling from the underside. Unless you have a good magnifying glass or microscope, further detail will not be useful.

Lemna

Lemna minor

duckweed [Blooms: ?]

Tulip trees are the tallest native hardwood — one living specimen is 190' tall, the tallest tree east of the Mississippi. (Most tulip trees are in the 80-100' range). Illinois is on the western edge of tulip trees' range, but it is the state tree of Indiana (and Tennessee). Tulip trees have a single trunk and (usually) a pyramidal crown; the bark is gray with whitish furrows. Flowers arise on short stalks in leaf axils. Each flower is bell-shaped, erect, 2-3" across, and ~2.5" tall; there are 9 tepals — 3 pale green sepal-like tepals reflected downward and 6 fleshy petal-like tepals, yellowish-green to green in their upper half with an broad orange stripe below; the very base of the petal is pale yellow-green. In the middle of the flower is a tall (2.5") conical cluster of 60-100 pistils (the receptacle); surrounding the receptacle are 20-50 white stamens with yellow anthers. The fruit is a 1.5" long winged seed (samara) reminiscent of an ash seed; the ovate seed lies at one end of a long, thin wing with a central ridge. The leaves alone are sufficient for a confident identification; in flower or in the fall when the receptacle has produced a crown-like circlet of woody, persistant basal samaras, tulip trees are unmistakable.

Liriodendron

Liriodendron tulipifera

tulip tree [Blooms: June]

Virginia creeper produces panicles of 80-150 flowers opposite leaf nodes; the panicles are broader than long and have a distinct central axis. Individual flowers are 1/4" across, green, with five petals, five white stamens with yellow anthers, and a single stout, cone-shaped style. Flowers may have only stamens, only pistils, or both pistils and stamens. The petals have a raised margin (less so than woodbine) and are reflected backwards around the flower stalk. The fruit is a fleshy berry that is initially green but becomes blue-black with maturation; the flower stalks become orange-red or red as the fruit matures. The clusters of the fruit are reminiscent of a bunch of grapes. Opposite the leaf nodes are tendrils with as many as 10 branches; the tendrils end in distinct (adhesive) pads. Virginia creeper plants growing on trees produce aerial roots with a distinct "beard" of rootlets. Woodbine (Parthenocissus vitacea) also has palmate leaves with five leaflets, very similar to Virginia creeper (P. quinquefolia), but lacks the distinctive "bearded" aerial roots with short rootlets that are present in Virginia creeper. Opposite the base of the leaf petiole on the stem, woodbine produces a thin filament that branches 2-3 times, anchoring the vine by twining around objects. In Virginia creeper, the equivalent filaments are stouter, branch up to ten times, and end in robust, egg-shaped pads that attach to the substrate. The inflorescence of woodbine lacks a central axis; the inflorescence of Virginia creeper has a distinct central axis. Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenocissus_inserta) lists other differences between the two species. Illinois Wildflowers, USDA Plants, and and World Flora Online consider the two species to be one; Minnesota Wildflowers considers them to be separate and distinct. Flora of North America indicates the correct scientific name for woodbine is Parthenocissus vitacea (not P. inserta), as does ITIS and MissouriPlants.com, implying that woodbine and Virginia creeper are distinct species. Both woodbine and Virginia creeper have 40 chromosomes. Lu et al.'s (2012, 2023) molecular and morphological analyses indicate that woodbine and Virginia creeper are very closely related but distinct species and I'll consider that to be correct here.

Parthenocissus

Parthenocissus quinquefolia

Virginia creeper [Blooms: June]