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Early goldenrod's inflorescence is apical, a panicle of flowering stems that "often arch upward and outward like a fireworks display" (John Hilty, www.illinoiswildflowers.info). Individual flowerheads are about 1/4" across; they have 4-12 yellow ray florets, not all open at one time, and 8-15 yellow disk florets. The base of the flowerhead is surrounded by 3-4 series of overlapping, narrow, hairless, yellowish-green bracts (phyllaries) that together are 3-4 mm (1/16") long. The pedicels (flower stalks) are usually hairless, all attached on one side of the panicle's flowering branches and curving upward. The fruit is a cone-shaped dry seed 1-1.5 mm long with an attached tuft of light brown hairs 2.5-3.5 mm long. The combination of wing-like leaflets in the leaf axils, hairless stems and leaves, and an inflorescence whose flowering stems flare up and out is diagnostic for early goldenrod. Field goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis) is much the same size and general appearance, but has hairy stems and leaves, unlike early goldenrod.

Solidago

Solidago juncea

early goldenrod [Blooms: Jul/Aug-?]

Saltmarsh sand-spurry flowers consist of five elliptical green sepals, five white to pink petals slightly longer than the sepals, 2-5 stamens with bright yellow anthers, and three short (0.7 mm), thread-like styles and three stigmas. In the Great Lakes region, saltmarsh sand-spurry is widely present along roads where salt is used as a deicer. Some sources refer to this plant as Spergularia marina, but ITIS rejects that binomial; Spergularia salina is the accepted name.

Spergularia

Spergularia salina

saltmarsh sand-spurry [Blooms: May-Aug]

Common chickweed's flower stems arise from the axils of outer pairs of leaves; the flower stems terminate in small cymes of flowers. Individual flowers are about 1/4" across, consisting of five green sepals longer than the petals, tapering to a point, hairy on the outside; five white, widely-spaced, bifid (deeply notched, each appearing double) petals; 2-10 (usually 3-5) stamens with reddish-violet anthers; and a central green ovary with three styles fused except at their flaring tips. The fruits are light brown, cylindrical, 4-6 mm long seed capsules nestled in the embrace of the (hairy) sepals with six small teeth around their upper ends. Common chickweed is usually self-pollinating (autogamous) but is occasionally cross-pollinated by flies. Chickweeds of the genus Stellaria (like common chickweed) have three styles; chickweeds of the genus Cerastium (like mouse-eared chickweed) have five styles. The flowers of whitlow-grass (Draba verna) are superficially similar to common chickweed in size and color but have only four bifid petals rather than five. One odd (but distinguishing) characteristic of common chickweed — if you bend the stem back and forth, the epidermis and parenchyma will split, leaving a central vascular bundle which will stretch elastically if you then pull the broken segments apart.

Stellaria

Stellaria media

common chickweed [Blooms: Apr-May]

Elongated racemes or short clusters arise from snowberry's leaf axils or the tips of shoots. Each flower is about 8 mm long and 6 mm across with a dull green, hairless, tubular calyx, swollen near the base, with five shallow teeth; a bell-shaped, light pink or whitish pink corolla with five triangular lobes; five short stamens attached to the petals with tan anthers at the tip of the filament; and a light green ovary with a single style. Neither stamens nor style extend past the margin of the corolla. Long white hairs crisscross the open space inside the corolla. The fruit is a drupe (a stone fruit, like a cherry) 8-16 mm in diameter, bright white, and more or less spherical at maturity with a pair of nutlets inside.

Symphoricarpos

Symphoricarpos albus

snowberry [Blooms: Jul-Sep]

Some of coralberry's leaf axils produce dense cluster of greenish, sessile flowers. Individual flowers are 1/4" long consisting of a short green calyx with five teeth and slightly swollen basally; a stubby, tubular corolla with five bluntly-rounded lobes; five stamens with white anthers; and a pale green ovary with a hairy style. The anthers barely extend to the edge of the corolla lobes; the stigma is inset slightly deeper. The fruit is a single globoid berry containing two seeds, 1/4" long and reddish-purple when mature.

Symphoricarpos

Symphoricarpos orbiculatus

coralberry [Blooms: Aug-?]

Stinging nettle plants are dioecious (unisexual) with male (staminate) and female (pistillate) flowers on separate plants. Flowers occur in knobby clusters (panicles) that arise from the leaf axils. Neither pistillate nor staminate flowers have any petals. Staminate flowers have four light green, identical sepals cupping four short stamens. Pistillate flowers also have four sepals but two are narrowly lance-shaped, about a millimeter long, and free, alternating with two sepals that are 1.4-1.8 mm long and cupped around the ovary; styles are absent but the single stigma is long and feathery. The fruit is a flattened, oval to egg-shaped seed, less than 1/16" long.

Urtica

Urtica dioica

stinging nettle [Blooms: Jul-Aug]

Wayfaring tree flowers occur in flat-topped cymes about 4" across; they are cream-colored with five petals, five stamens with white filaments and tan anthers, and a green ovary with a short (1 mm) style with a large, lobed stigma. The fruit is an oval, flattened drupe, initially red, turning black with maturity, and containing a single seed. They are not toxic but can induce vomiting it eaten when unripe. Wayfaring tree is said to be so named because it grows close to paths (and presumably other natural edges).

Viburnum

Viburnum lantana

wayfaring tree [Blooms: Apr-May]

Nannyberry flowers occur in 2-5" wide, dome-shaped panicles at the tips of young shoots. Individual flowers are 1/4" across, consisting of a light green calyx with five triangular teeth; a creamy white corolla with five oval lobes; five stamens with white filaments and yellow anthers that protrude well past the edges of the corolla lobes; and a light green or yellow pistil with a short style. The fruit is a 6-10 mm long drupe, initially green but turning dark blue-violet when ripe, containing a single seed. Nannyberry is similar to blackhaw (Viburnum prunifolium, also present in Jackson Park) — both have white flowers and blue-black fruits that are drupes — but nannyberry leaves have a long, narrow tip on their leaves in contrast to the rather blunt tips on blackhaw leaves.

Viburnum

Viburnum lentago

nannyberry [Blooms: Apr-May]

In the spring, American cranberry shrubs produce flattened panicles of flowers 2-5" across that bear two types of flowers — around the edges are five-petaled, white flowers about 1" across that are sterile (lacking both pistils and stamens), while in the center of the cluster are five-petaled, cream-colored flowers 1/4" across that are fertile (with both a pistil and five long stamens). By late summer, the flowers are replaced by bright red "cranberries" (actually drupes with a single seed) 1/4-1/2" across that prove very popular with birds (which distribute the seeds) and our local coyotes (whose scat is full of the seeds). After removing the seed, the tart flesh (high in vitamin C) can be eaten raw or cooked. In the fall, the leaves also turn red. Viburnum opulus var. americanum is said to be distinct from Viburnum trilobum (aka, highbush cranberry) by Illinois Wildflowers (www.illinoiswildflowers.info) and Minnesota Wildflowers (www.minnesotawildflowers.info), but plants.usda.gov insists that the latter is a synonym of the former. Worldfloraonline.org only adds to the confusion by insisting that the two names are BOTH junior synonyms of Viburnum opulus. ITIS.gov says that V. opulus is the correct name for the European species (now introduced to the U.S.) and Viburnum opulus var. americanum is the correct name for the American species. The easiest way to distinguish the two forms (if you care to) is to carefully inspect the nectary glands (extrafloral nectaries) on the petioles. In V. opulus americanum, the extrafloral nectaries are oval, with a concave top and a distinct rim; in Viburnum trilobum, the extrafloral nectaries are round in plan view with a convex top and no rim. Although rare in most of Illinois, guelder-rose (V. opulus americanum) is quite common around the lagoons of Jackson Park.

Viburnum

Viburnum opulus

American cranberry [Blooms: Apr-May]

Cymes of flowers arise from the leaf axils of blackhaw; the cymes are heavily branched but are sessile on the leaf axil. Individual flowers are 1/4" across with a 2 mm long calyx tube with five apical lobes that are shorter than the petals; a tubular corolla with five white, rounded lobes (the "petals"); five stamens with white filaments and yellow anthers extending outside the corolla lobes; and a small (less than 1 mm long), cream-colored pistil. The fruit is a fleshy drupe (like a plum or cherry) about 8 mm long containing a single brown nutlet that is flat on one side; the fruit becomes blue-black as it matures. The fruits are edible and popular with birds. Blackhaw is similar to nannyberry (Viburnum lentago, also found in Jackson Park) — both have white flowers and blue-black fruits that are drupes — but nannyberry leaves have a long, narrow tip on their leaves in contrast to the rather blunt tip and reddish petioles on blackhaw leaves. The stamens in blackhaw flowers are slightly shorter than those in nannyberry flowers but the difference is subtle; leaf form and petiole color are better differentiators.

Viburnum

Viburnum prunifolium

blackhaw [Blooms: May-June]

Many of the upper shoots of downy arrowwood end in 1.5-3" wide, dome-shaped panicles of flowers with slightly fuzzy, light green branches. Individual flowers are 1/4" across with a short, light green calyx with five short, broad teeth; a white tubular corolla with five rounded, spreading lobes; five stamens with white filaments and tan anthers that extend outside the corolla; and a single white style. The flowers have an unpleasant odor described by various sources as "rotting flesh." The fruit is a small (1/4-1/2") drupe (a stone fruit like cherries or a plum) 8 mm long and dark blue-violet to black at maturity. Downy arrowwood can be distinguished from other Viburnum spp. by its (1) its small size (less than six feet tall), (2) the relatively few teeth along the leaf margins (5-10 per side), (3) the short (about 1/4") leaf petioles, (4) the small, narrow stipules at the petiole bases, and (5) its flowers' unpleasant odor. The common name derives from the fact that the straight stems of the various arrowwoods was preferred by indigenous Americans for arrow shafts.

Viburnum

Viburnum rafinesquianum

downy arrowwood [Blooms: Aug–Sep]