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Woodland phlox is a 1-1.5' tall plant with a fuzzy to hairy stem, light green or reddish brown in color. Leaves are opposite (or sometimes in a three-leaf whorl), sessile or clasping the stem, three times longer than wide, lance-shaped with smooth margins, and fuzzy to hairy overall with short hairs around the margins. The flowers are 1" across, pale blue-violet, lavender, or (rarely) white, and with a long, narrow tubular throat that abruptly flares into five petal-like, spoon-shaped lobes. The calyx is green or reddish-green, hairy, with five long, narrow teeth almost half the length of the flower, spreading near their tips. The five stamens and style are hidden within the throat. Woodland phlox has relatively broader leaves than other Phlox species and has a more intense blue-violet (and less pink) color.

Phlox

Phlox divaricata

woodland phlox [Blooms: Apr-May]

Smooth phlox is a 1-2' tall plant with an unbranched, hairless stem topped with a slightly domed cluster of 3-20 pink or lavender flowers. Each flower is about 3/4" across and has a long, tubular throat that abruptly flares into five petal-like lobes; each lobe is wedge-shaped and overlaps the next lobe clockwise. The calyx (also hairless) consists of five triangular segments that taper rapidly to sharp points; the calyx is <1/3 the length of the corolla tube. The five stamens and single style with a three-part stigma either lie within the corolla tube or are just visible in the throat. After fertilization, a narrow seed capsule filled with numerous seeds fills the persistant calyx. Smooth phlox prefers moist to wet habitats. Smooth phlox flowers resemble prairie phlox (P. bifida) but the latter species is quite hairy on the stems, leaves, and the exterior of the flower (the calyx); smooth phlox is hairless. Checking the hairiness (or lack thereof) of the calyx is the quickest way to tell prairie phlox from smooth phlox.

Phlox

Phlox glaberrima interior

smooth phlox [Blooms: Jun-Aug]

Prairie phlox is a compact, single-stemmed, plant 1/2-1.75' tall with (typically) a dome-shaped cluster of flowers at the apex. Individual flowers are 1/2-3/4" across, pink or lavender (rarely white); the corolla is tubular with five wedge-shaped, petal-like lobes often with darker markings (nectar guides) near the throat; the corolla is hairy on all external surfaces. The throat is very narrow; the five stamens with yellow anthers are recessed but just visible. The very short, tubular, hairy calyx base is green, with five long, narrow teeth that extend parallel to the narrow throat (also hairy) of the corolla. The fruit is oval and shorter than the calyx (in which it develops); when ripe, the capsule splits explosively, flinging the seeds in all directions. The species name ("pilosa") means "hairy" in Latin, and this species is indeed hairy on almost every surface. Prairie phlox flowers resemble smooth phlox (P. glaberrima) and, to a lesser extent, woodland phlox (P. divaricata), but the former species is quite hairy on the stems, leaves, and the exterior of the flower (the calyx); smooth phlox is hairless. Checking the hairiness (or lack thereof) of the calyx is the quickest way to tell prairie phlox from smooth phlox; checking the hairiness of the exterior of the corolla tube will distinguish woodland phlox (hairless) from prairie phlox (hairy).

Phlox

Phlox pilosa

prairie phlox [Blooms: Apr-Jun]

Giant reed is a grass that grows 4-16' tall (the tallest native grass in Illinois), often in dense, clonal stands. The culm (stem) is greyish-blue or light green; the base of the culm may be 15 mm (about 5/8") across. The culm ends in a panicle up to 1.5' long and half as wide of spikelets. When the florets are blooming, the panicle of spikelets has a reddish, silky appearance. Each spikelet is 12-17 mm long containing 3-7 florets. At the base of the spikelet is a pair of scale-like glumes (bracts) at about a 30° angle to each other; the base of the upper glume is nested inside the base of the lower glume, and both have a long, tapered, pointed tip. The glumes are typically 4-6 mm (1/4") long. Above the glumes, along the central axis of the spikelet (rachilla) are a series of progressively-shorter bracts (lemma and palea — more delicate versions of glumes — surrounding each floret) and tufts of silky hairs 1 cm long attached to the rachilla and obscuring the florets. The most basal floret is either sterile or is staminate; the remaining florets containing both male and female reproductive organs (= "perfect"). Staminate and perfect florets contain 1-3 stamens with purple anthers; perfect florets also have two long, feathery styles. The florets are wind-pollinated. After fertilization, individual seed grains replace the florets.

Phragmites

Phragmites australis

giant reed [Blooms: ?early-midsummer]

Clammy groundcherry flowers arise at the junction of two branches or at a leaf axil on 1/4", arching pedicels that permit the flower to droop. The flowers are up to 3/4" across, consisting of a green calyx half the length of the flower with five triangular teeth, a funnel-shaped, pale-yellow corolla with five shallow lobes, five stamens with large, creamy-yellow anthers, and a single central pistil. In the interior of the corolla surrounding the ovary are five brown smudges, one on each corolla lobe, that merge centrally into a purple-brown ring covering the ovary. Both the pedicel and the calyx are also covered with fine white hairs. After fertilization, the flowers are replaced by green (later brown) hollow husks (a persistant calyx), heart-shaped in longitudinal section, covering a 1/2" diameter spherical, green fruit that becomes yellow when ripe. All parts of clammy ground cherry contain a glycoalkaloid poison called solanine that causes a series of unpleasant and sometimes potentially fatal symptoms; clammy groundcherry is avoided by mammalian herbivores. Only the RIPE fruit is edible.

Physalis

Physalis heterophylla

clammy groundcherry [Blooms: Jul-Aug]

Smooth groundcherry flowers are yellow, bell-shaped, with five purplish-brown patches near the center, five stamens with yellow or purple anthers, and a single pistil; the flowers are suspended from a purplish-green pedicel 3/4-1" long. After fertilization, the flowers are replaced by a tomatillo-like fruit (often with ten purple meridional lines) that is a green (later brown) hollow husk (a persistant calyx) that is heart-shaped in longitudinal section, covering a 1/2" diameter spherical, green miniature tomato that becomes yellow when ripe. All parts of smooth groundcherry contain a glycoalkaloid poison called solanine that causes a series of unpleasant and sometimes potentially fatal symptoms; smooth groundcherry is avoided by mammalian herbivores. Only the RIPE fruit is edible (said to taste like an underripe strawberry).

Physalis

Physalis longifolia

smooth groundcherry [Blooms: Jun-Aug]

Ninebark produces round or domed clusters (racemes) of 30-50 flowers on the tips of young stems. Individual flowers are about 1/2" across; they have a light green calyx with five triangular teeth, five white petals, 30-40 pink-tipped stamens, and 3-5 styles with yellow stigmas. The inside surface of the flower between the styles and the base of the stamens (the hypanthium) is prominently colored tan, orange, or red. After fertilization, each flower produces 2-5 adjacent fruits "follicles"), greenish-red in color, drooping from the long, slender flower pedicels. Single follicles contain a single, hard seed; the follicles are about 8 mm long with a slender, pointed beak protruding from one side. There are two varieties of ninebark characterized by whether the surface of the follicle is hairy; the variety present in Jackson Park (var. intermedius) has a hairy surface.

Physocarpus

Physocarpus opulifolius

ninebark [Blooms: May-Jun]

Pokeweed inflorescences are cylindrical, 3-6" long and 1" in diameter with 1/4" flowers radiating in all directions on short green or white pedicels. Individual flowers have five pink or white sepals and ten white stamens in a circle around fused carpels that form a lobed dome with ten tiny, thread-like styles in the center; petals are absent. The fruit is a 1/4" wide M&M-shaped berry that becomes dark purple and shiny when ripe; the pedicels also turn reddish-purple. Pokeweed is impossible to confuse with any other local plant. Children appear to be especially sensitive and may need hospitalization after eating only a few ripe berries.

Phytolacca

Phytolacca americana

pokeweed [Blooms: Jun-Oct]

Common plantain is an introduced plant commonly found in lawns and disturbed areas. The flower stalks are erect, 4-20" long; the lower third is green and unadorned while the upper two-thirds is densely covered with 1/8" green flowers. Individual flowers consist of four green sepals with a green keel and membranous margins above a single green bract, four filamentous stamens with tan to purplish anthers, a single white style, and a four small, papery, petals. The flowers are wind-pollinated. The fruits are rounded, egg-shaped capsules about 1/8" long. Common plantain is nearly indistinguishable from (the native) black-seeded plantain (Plantago rugelii); the two species differ only in the details of the sepals and seed pods. (Common plantain's seed capsule is egg-shaped and splits around the middle; black-seeded plantain's seed capsule are 2-3 times longer than wide splits nearer the bottom.) One, more ephemeral, character may help distinguish the two species in the field. According to Minnesota Wildflowers, the base of the leaf stalks of the native species (Rugel's plantain, P. rugelii) are dark red or purple in color; the base of the leaf stalks of the exotic common plantain (P. major) are uniformly green. Rugel's plantain is probably as common and tolerant of a range of habitats as common plantain, but specimens of this plant tend to be reflexively referred to "common plantain."

Plantago

Plantago major

common plantain [?-Aug]

Mayapple produces a single, hairless stem that branches no more than once; each stem thus has either a single leaf (infertile stems) or two leaves (fertile stems). Fertile stems produce a solitary nodding flower, 2-3" across, that is hidden beneath the leaves where the two leaves branch on the stem. The flowers contain 6-9 brilliant white petals and a ring of 12-18 tan stamens with large, banana-shaped anthers, all surrounding a surprisingly large, yellow ovary topped with a button of a stigmata. The fruit is a large (1.5" long), ellipsoidal berry, yellow when ripe. All parts of the plant are poisonous including the green fruit, but the ripe (yellow) fruit is edible (in small quantities).

Podophyllum

Podophyllum peltatum

mayapple [Blooms: Apr-May]

The stems and flower stalks of Jacob's ladder are green to reddish-green and hairy; the flowers occur in panicles of floppy flowers on 1" long pedicels. The flowers are bell-shaped and baby-blue in color, 3/8" across with fine longitudinal veins. There are five stamens with white anthers and a long style tipped with a Y-shaped stigma. The stamens do not project beyond the flower margins, but the style does. The fruit is an ovoid, three-celled, seed capsule about 1/4" long held in the remnants of the calyx. Jacob's ladder prefers shady woodlands. This species is similar to Greek valerian (Polemonium vanbruntiae) but the latter species has stamens that extend beyond the flower margins (and does not occur in Illinois).

Polemonium

Polemonium reptans

Jacob's ladder [Blooms: Apr-May]

Prostrate knotweed is a summer-blooming Eurasian exotic that is widespread and ubiquitous across Illinois. One to five 2-3 mm long flowers occur in a cluster at the base of the leaves; the flowers have very short petioles but may appear sessile. Individual flowers have five white or green and white sepals, no petals, five or eight stamens with yellow anthers, and three styles (one for each carpel) fused into a single pistil with a tripartite yellow stigma fringed with short hairs. The fruit develops within the persistant sepals of the flower. Prostrate knotweed is not fussy about its habitat and withstands a fair amount of foot traffic.

Polygonum

Polygonum aviculare

prostrate knotweed [Blooms: Jun-Sep]

Pickerel weed is an aquatic plant with emergent leaves and flower spikes; it is native to the New World. Each flower stalk is up to 3' tall (usually shorter) and bears a single leaf whose petiole is wrapped by a thin sheath. The flower stalks bear a flower spike ~5" long, densely covered with blue-violet flowers and unopened flower buds; below the spike, the flower stalk is wrapped in a sheath. Individual flowers are ~1/2 across; the corolla has three upper lobes (with 1-2 yellow spots on the middle lobe) and an additional three lower lobes; the exterior of the buds and the flowers is covered with long, white hairs. There are six stamens, usually three emergent and three recessed deep in the flower. Like purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), pickerel weed has tristylous flowers with each plant producing flowers with one of three distinct lengths of the styles (and thus the position of the stigma) and three complementary lengths of the stamens (call them long, medium, and short). If the styles are L, the stamens are M and S; if the styles are M, the stamens are L and S, and if the styles are S, the stamens are L and M. Presumably, these complications enhance genetic outcrossing. For more information, see Price and Barrett (1984) Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 21: 315-329 and Gettys and Wofford (2008) J. Heredity 99: 558-563.

Pontederia

Pontederia cordata

pickerel weed [Blooms: Jun-Sep]

Common purslane has no inflorescence per se; flowers occur alone or in small terminal clusters. Individual flowers are 1/8-1/4" across with two or four green sepals, 4-6 yellow petals with notched tips, 6-12 stamens with yellow anthers, and a five-lobed style with 3-6 stigmas. Fertilized flowers are replaced by an oval or urn-shaped capsule about 8 mm long that splits open along a meridional seam to release the tiny, dark brown or black seeds.

Portulaca

Portulaca oleracea

common purslane [Blooms: Jun-Sep]

In late spring and early summer, curly pondweed produces both flowers and turions (a detachable, dormant bud, a.k.a. a "winter bud"). Cylindrical flower spikes 1-1.5" long arise from the tips of the stems or the axils of upper leaves; peduncles up to 3" long hold the flower spikes just above the water. Each flower spike may have 3-5 whorls of flowers. Individual flowers are tiny (3 mm across); they consist of four greenish-brown or greenish-red sepals, four stamens with a ladle-shaped appendage, and four ovules topped by a four-part style. Flowers may be pollinated by either wind or water. Fertilized ovules produce a dry seed (a maximum of four per flower) that is generally oval but asymmetrical in detail with a knobby keel along one edge and a long, curved beak or tooth at the opposite end. Seed germination has never been observed. Simultaneously, the plant produces turions — rosettes of small, holly-like leaves that overall have a cone-like appearance — from the tips of stems and leaf axils. After the fruits and the turions are released, the rest of the plant degenerates over the course of the summer. The turions sink to the bottom of the water body and root, forming small plants that overwinter.

Potamogeton

Potamogeton crispus

curly pondweed [Blooms: May-?]

Silverweed is a low, sprawling native plant that occurs everywhere in North America from the southwest through northern Canada. The prominent red stolons give rise to both new rooted nodes where the stolons encounter wet soil and may also give rise to new leaves. There is a basal rosette of large (12" long x 4" wide) odd-pinnate leaves with 5-11 opposite leaflet pairs and a single terminal leaflet. Flower pedicels 2-6" long arise from stolon nodes. The flowers are bright yellow, solitary, and 3/4" across. Each flower has five light green, hairy sepals; 5-15 oval, yellow petals; a ring of ~20 yellow stamens with large flat anthers; and a central disc of 20 to over 100 yellow pistils. The sepals are shorter than the petals. Silverweed prefers sandy habitats like beaches.

Potentilla

Potentilla anserina

silverweed [Blooms: Jun-Aug]

Rough cinquefoil is considered to be native to both North America and Eurasia. Flowers may develop from the axils of the upper leaves but more usually occur (as a panicle of cymes) in a terminal inflorescence on flower stalks 1-2' tall. The flowers are small (1/3-1/2") and pale yellow; the petals are distinctly heart-shaped with narrow bases and the sepals are triangular and slightly longer than petals. About 15-20 yellow stamens surround a dome-shaped, yellow receptacle covered with styles. Beneath the sepals are five green oval bracts about the same length as the sepals when the flower is in bloom. Fruits develop as dry seeds (achenes) in the persistent flower calyx. Note that rough cinquefoil’s leaves have three leaflets, common cinquefoil's leaves have five, and prairie cinquefoil's leaves have 7-11.

Potentilla

Potentilla norvegica

rough cinquefoil [Blooms: Jun-Sep]

Sulfur cinquefoil flowers are 3/4" across, pale yellow with a golden center. Beneath the flowers are green bracts about the same length as the sepals but narrower. The sepals are equilateral triangles that are shorter than the petals while the petals are heart-shaped with the narrow point at the base of the petal (where the yellow color is often more intense). There are 25-30 stamens surrounding the central receptacle; the anthers have one or more central dark spots contrasting strongly with the generally yellow anther (but these spots may be difficult to see). Sulfur cinquefoil is similar to prairie cinquefoil, but sulfur cinquefoil's flowers are yellow, not cream colored and its leaves are palmately compound, not pinnate. After fertilization, the sepals close over the ovary forming a capsule around the maturing seeds. The seeds are dry achenes less than 2 mm long with a coarsely wrinkled, brown surface. Sulfur cinquefoil was accidentally introduced to North America from Europe; the first recorded observation was in Montreal in 1852. By 1879, sulfur cinquefoil had become naturalized in New York state; by 1900, it was spreading across New England and the upper midwest. (So sulfur cinquefoil probably wasn't around for the Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park in 1893.) It spreads aggressively in disturbed areas.

Potentilla

Potentilla recta

sulfur cinquefoil [Blooms: May-Jul]