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Orange jewelweed flowers are about 1" long and 1/2-3/4" wide, conical, bright, shiny orange with reddish or brown streaks or dots and with a posterior sac and nectar spur that are actually a modified sepal; the flowers hang from drooping pedicels like floral mobiles with two more-conventional-looking sepals as attachments. The morphological center of the flower is the point where the pedicel joins the two obvious sepals at the top of the flower. A single petal forms the upper lip of the flower; two petals form the lateral sides; and two partially fused petals form the two-lobed lower lip. A cluster of stamens with white anthers hangs from the upper lip near the aperture; there is a single pistil. The shade of orange and the extent of the darker dots and streaks are highly variable (from absent to covering the flower). The fruit is a pea-like seed pod that splits lengthwise to fling the seeds away from the plant.

Impatiens

Impatiens capensis

orange jewelweed [Blooms: Jul-Nov]

Ivy-leaved morning glory is a sprawling, green to reddish vine up to 6' long covered with long, white hairs. Flowers arise from leaf axils on very short (1/4") stalks; they are funnel-shaped, ~2" across, blue-violet with a white throat, with five stamens with white anthers and a single style with a three-lobed stigma. The calyx is about 1/2" long, divided into five long, narrow teeth. Individual flowers only last a few hours. The seed capsule has three compartments and is hairy. Sepals are relatively very long and narrow, unlike common morning glory, where the sepals are short and triangular. Ivy-leaved morning glory is also native to Central America and its history of introductions is probably similar to common morning glory, Ipomoea purpurea.

Ipomoea

Ipomoea hederacea

ivy-leaved morning-glory [Blooms: Aug-Sep]

Small white morning glory is a vine 3-8' long, covered in scattered white hairs. The flowers are much smaller (1" long and 3/4" across) than most other Jackson Park morning glories, pentagonal rather than circular in outline, white, and shallowly lobed. The flowers consist of five lance-like sepals about 4 mm long, the funnel-like corolla, five stamens with a white filament and pinkish-purple anthers, and a single style with a knobby or bifurcated stigma. Fertilized flowers produce a spherical, hairy seed capsule about 1/2" in diameter nestled in the five sepals. Unlike the other two morning glories in Jackson Park, small white morning glory is native, but uncommon in northern Illinois.

Ipomoea

Ipomoea lacunosa

small white morning-glory [Blooms: Aug-Sep]

Wild sweet potato is a twining vine that can reach 20-30' long, completely covering the adjacent vegetation. The flowers are funnel-shaped with five shallow lobes, 2.5-3" across, white with a reddish-purple or rosy throat. There are five stamens of different lengths with filaments up to an inch long and whitish-pink anthers; there is a single whitish style with a two-lobed stigma. The flowers tend to bloom early in the day, later if cloudy. Individual flowers are short lived but this plant is a prodigious producer of blooms; it is the largest morning glory in Jackson Park. The "sweet potato" is a modified root up to 20" long and weighing 30 pounds; it is edible, but only barely.

Ipomoea

Ipomoea pandurata

wild sweet-potato [Blooms: Jun-Aug]

Common morning glory is a vine up to 10' long with alternate, heart-shaped (never lobed), smooth-margined, almost as wide as long. The stem is green or reddish-purple, covered with long hairs; it twines around adjacent vegetation and objects. Cymes of 1-5 flowers arise from some leaf axils; they sit at the tip of about 4" long pedicels. The flowers are 2-3.5" wide, funnel-shaped, usually deep purple or pink, less commonly blue or white, a single style with a three-lobed stigma, and five stamens. Sepals are relatively short, hairy, and triangular unlike ivy-leaved morning glory (I. hederacea), where the sepals are long and narrow. Other morning glories (Ipomoea sp.) usually have lobed leaves; the superficially-similar bindweeds usually have arrowhead-shaped leaves, not heart-shaped. Common morning glory has sepals that are short and triangular, unlike ivy-leaved morning glory where the sepals are relatively very long and narrow. Common morning glory is native to Mexico; it was introduced to England by 1621, then introduced from England to North America around 1700 as an ornamental (Fang et al., 2013), where it rapidly escaped cultivation.

Ipomoea

Ipomoea purpurea

common morning-glory [Blooms: Aug-Sep]

Hairy puccoon flowers are 3/4" across with a VERY hairy, green calyx with five sharply-triangular teeth , a yellow to yellow-orange tubular corolla with five widely-spreading rounded lobes, five stamens hidden inside the corolla beneath the throat, and a single style with a two-lobed, disc-like stigma. The flowers of hairy puccoon are heterostylous; i.e., either they have long stamens (~14 mm) and a short style (2-5 mm) or short stamens (~3 mm) with a long style (5-12 mm), but neither the anthers nor the stigma extend beyond the throat of the corolla (although they may get close). Hairy puccoon is very similar to hoary puccoon (L. canescens) but with stems that are less hairy and the hairs are "disorganized." The calyx at the base of the floral tube are very hairy in both species, but the teeth of the calyx in L. caroliniense have a distinct keel running down their midline. (I.e., subspecies L. caroliniense croceum.) Flowers of hairy puccoon are larger — up to 1" vs. 1/2" in hoary puccoon. The fruit is an egg-shaped nutlet, white when mature.

Lithospermum

Lithospermum caroliniense

hairy puccoon [Blooms: May-Jun]

Great blue lobelia's flower spike is 0.5-2' long, densely covered by blue-violet flowers with white stripes. individual flowers are about 1" across, the apex angled upwards, with a green, very hairy calyx with five long, narrow teeth and the bell-shaped corolla a tube that splits distally into in an upper and a lower lip, each with long white hairs on their outer surfaces. The lower lip consists of three lance-shaped, descending lobes with white patches near their bases; the upper lip has two lobes that flank on either side a cylindrical structure (five bluish stamen filaments fused with and surrounding the style) with a down-turned tip (the stigma) surrounded by brush-like anther "beards". The flower stalk and calyx are green and densely hairy. Like most lobelias, great blue lobelia contains toxic alkaloids that can produce serious symptoms; keep pets away. This species is unlikely to be confused with any other. If mystified by the flower structure, see http://iowaplants.com/flora/family/Campanulaceae/lobelia/l_siphilitica/Lobelia_siphilitica.html.

Lobelia

Lobelia siphilitica

great blue lobelia [Blooms: Aug-Oct]

Virginia bluebells' upper stems terminate in drooping cymes of flowers. Individual flowers are 3/4-1" long with a 1/4" long, greyish-green calyx with five elliptical teeth that cups a tubular region of the corolla about 2/3 the length of the flower that in turn flares into a bell-like shape, often slightly wrinkled, with five very shallow lobes. There are five stamens with blue filaments and white anthers inside the corolla that do not emerge from the bell, the anthers reaching just past the throat; the single long, slender, white style often protrudes well beyond the margin of the bell. Virginia bluebells are pollinated by a variety of long-tongued animals including hummingbird moths (Hemaris thysbe). The fruits are four-lobed, yellow or greenish-yellow, containing four nutlets; the fruit is nestled in the flower calyx. Nothing in Jackson Park looks like Virginia bluebells; once you've identified one, you'll be confident of your ID ever afterward. For me, they are the real herald of spring, and they make me smile.

Mertensia

Mertensia virginica

Virginia bluebells [Blooms: Apr-May]

Solomon's seal is a 2-3.5' tall plant with a single, unbranched, hairless, arching stem. On the underside of the stem are 12-20 dangling clusters of flowers (2-3 flowers/cluster). The flowers are 1/2-1" long, whitish- or yellowish-green, tubular, with six lobes/tepals fused for most of their length but that flare slightly at their tips; the interior of the flower contains six stamens with yellow anthers and a single style. The fruit is a 1/4" diameter spherical berry, initially green, dark blue-violet or -black when mature. When in bloom or bearing fruit, Solomon's seal is distinctive and easy to identify; when not in bloom, the leaves of Solomon's seal can be difficult to distinguish from those of false Solomon's seal (Maianthemum racemosum) and starry false Solomon's seal (Maianthemum stellatum). (Both Maianthemum sp. have short petioles on their leaves and their flowers are terminal, at the end of the stem, rather than hanging down from the stem.) Polygonatum biflorum is sometimes (incorrectly) referred to as Polygonatum commutatum. The "Solomon's seal" in the name refers to scars on the rhizome fancied to look like a Hebrew seal. I have to admit I just don't see it.

Polygonatum

Polygonatum biflorum

Soloman's seal [Blooms: May-Jul]

The tips of some short, lateral shoots of wild black currant produce clusters (racemes) of 6-15 flowers that are suspended by short pedicels from a central, drooping stalk 1-3" long. At the base of each pedicel is a 3/8" long yellowish bract. Individual flowers are 1/2" long, bell-shaped with a short tubular calyx with (1) five spreading, oblong, greenish-white apical lobes (sepals), (2) five squared-off whitish petals emerging from the tubular calyx and forming a ring-shaped wall, (3) five stamens, shorter than the petals, with cream-colored anthers, and (4) a green ovary with two styles that are fused except at their tips. The fruit consists of 3/8" wide, shiny berries, initially green, black when fully ripe, containing lots of tiny seeds. The berries are edible when cooked and have been used to make pies, jelly, or wines (if you can get to them before the birds do). Note that commercial black currants are derived from the European version of this species (Ribes nigrum), not Ribes americanum.

Ribes

Ribes americanum

wild black currant [Blooms: Apr-May]

Golden currant produces one- to three-inch-long clusters (racemes) of 5-18 drooping flowers from the leaf axils. Individual flowers are 3/4" long and across; the joined sepals are yellowish-green and tubular basally but abruptly flare into five bright golden-yellow, rectangular lobes with rounded tips. The petals are short (2-3 mm), rectangular structures that surround the throat of the corolla; they may be yellow or orange but are usually red or red-tipped. Between the petals are five stamens that extend to the tips of the petals, bearing white anthers; the styles are light green, fused to just below the stigmas, and protrude beyond the petals. The fruit is a small (1/4-3/8") edible berry with lots of seeds; fruit color is initially green but ranges from golden yellow to black when mature. Unlike gooseberries, this plant lacks spines and prickles; its large yellow flowers are distinctive. Golden currant is native to North America and was once very popular as an ornamental plant (and fruit for jams and jellies); it has probably escaped cultivation numerous times.

Ribes

Ribes aureum

golden currant [Blooms: Apr-May]

Missouri gooseberry produces groups (racemes or corymbs) of 1-3 flowers on a horizontal flower stalk near some leaf petioles; the 1/4-1/2" long flower pedicels droop downward, so the axis of the flower is vertical. An egg-shaped, sessile bract is present at the base of each flower stalk. Missouri gooseberry flowers are easy to overlook because they don't comport with one's usual idea of "flowers" — they are very elongate, as if viewed in a fun house mirror. The flowers have a very narrow, white or greenish-white, tubular calyx with 4-5 oblong, spreading or reflected sepal lobes as long as the calyx; five short, erect petals extending from the calyx; and 4-5 stamens that double the vertical length of the flower. Hidden inside, at the base of the calyx, is a smooth ovary topped by a single pistil with one style; only the style is visible externally, sometimes extending past the stamens during flowering. After fertilization, the flower parts wither and the ovary expands into a smooth, globular berry 6-12 mm in diameter containing numerous tiny seeds; the berry is initially green, turning dull red or dull purple when ripe. If you see a gooseberry in Jackson Park with a prickly surface on the fruit (looking like a miniature, green medieval mace), it is prickly gooseberry, Ribes cynosbati, which also has lobed leaves. I have yet to see prickly gooseberry in Jackson Park, but it is known to occur in northern Illinois.

Ribes

Ribes missouriense

Missouri gooseberry [Blooms: Apr-May]

The inflorescences of common comfrey are nodding cymes or racemes of flowers that arise from the tips of the stems and the lateral branches. The flowers are bell-shaped, about 1/4" across and 1/2-5/8" long. Each flower has a hairy, green calyx with five lance-like teeth that is half the length of the corolla; a purple, pink or white funnel- or bell-shaped corolla with five small, recurved lobes at its lip; five stamens that do not extend past the margin of the corolla; and a pistil with a single white style that barely protrudes past the corolla margin. The fruits are a cluster of four, 4-5 mm long, nutlets nestled in the remnants of the flower calyx; the nutlets are dark brown or black when mature, oval and slightly flattened at one end. The remnants of the style protrude from the center of the fruit. Extracts of common comfrey are sometimes sold as herbal remedies but be aware that the plant is mildly toxic; it contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids that can be absorbed through the skin or gastric system and may cause (potentially fatal) liver toxicity and may be carcinogenic. Comfrey products for internal use or for use on open wounds are banned in the U.S. by the F.D.A. Supplements containing common comfrey probably should be avoided.

Symphytum

Symphytum officinale

common comfrey [Blooms: Apr-Jul]

Clusters of lowbush blueberry's flowers develop on the previous year's twigs. The flowers are about 1/4" long, urn- or bell-shaped, nodding, white, and waxy. The flowers contain a short, green calyx with five teeth; a short, tubular corolla that is pinkish white or white with five triangular, recurved lobes around its margin; ten stamens with reddish brown anthers recessed behind the margin of the corolla and clustered around the style; and a single style whose stigma extends right to the margin of the corolla. Fertilized flowers are replaced by approximately 8 mm diameter berries, initially green but turning dark blue with a whitish bloom as they mature. (I.e., they look — and taste — like blueberries.)

Vaccinium

Vaccinium angustifolium

lowbush blueberry [Blooms: May]

The tip of a smooth ironweed central stem bears a cluster (a corymb) up to 4" in diameter of magenta composite flowerheads that is quite densely packed in a flat or (sometimes) domed inflorescence. The branches of the inflorescence (but not the stem) may be lightly fuzzy with small hairs. Each flowerhead is 3/4" across and contains 10-30 magenta disk florets, each with five lobes and a very prominent, divided style with curled tips (the stigmas) and five stamens appressed to the base of the style; ray florets are completely absent. The bracts that cover the underside of the flowerheads are green or purplish brown, flattened, appressed, and rounded at their tips, imbricated like fish scales with white, cobwebby hairs around their edges. The fruit is a naked seed with an attached tuft of white hairs (actually, scales). To sort out the Jackson Park ironweeds: (1) if both leaves and stem are densely covered with fine white hairs, the leaves are about 3-4 times longer than wide, and each flowerhead has more than 30 disk florets, it's Missouri ironweed (V. missurica). (2) If both leaves and stems are hairless, there are less than 30 disk florets, and the leaves are narrow (typically a half inch or less; about 6-10+ times longer than wide), it's smooth ironweed (V. fasiculata). (3) If the stems and leaves have only short hairs, there are less than 30 disk florets, and the leaves are about 2" wide and 4-6 times longer than wide, it's tall ironweed (V. gigantea).

Vernonia

Vernonia fasciculata

smooth ironweed [Blooms: Jun-Sep]

Tall ironweed's inflorescence is a flat-topped panicle arising from the tip of the central stem; it is 6-16" across, open and spreading. There are 10-30 disk florets in a tall ironweed flowerhead. The base of the flowerhead is covered by several series of dark colored, broadly oval appressed bracts (phyllaries), often with fine hairs around their edges. The disk florets have tubular, trumpet-like corollas with five recurved lobes; ray florets are absent. Tall ironweed has a much more "open" composite flowerhead than the other ironweeds in Jackson Park, with the trumpet bases of the disk florets easily visible. The fruits are naked, gray or brown, bullet-shaped seeds with a tuft of both short and long tawny or pale purple hairs. To sort out the Jackson Park ironweeds: (1) if both leaves and stem are densely covered with fine white hairs, the leaves are about 3-4 times longer than wide, and each flowerhead has more than 30 disk florets, it's Missouri ironweed (V. missurica). (2) If both leaves and stems are hairless, there are less than 30 disk florets, and the leaves are narrow (typically a half inch or less; about 6-10+ times longer than wide), it's smooth ironweed (V. fasiculata). (3) If the stems and leaves have only short hairs, there are less than 30 disk florets, and the leaves are about 2" wide and 4-6 times longer than wide, it's tall ironweed (V. gigantea).

Vernonia

Vernonia gigantea

tall ironweed [Blooms: Jul-?]

At the tip of a Missouri ironweed stem, a corymb of composite flowerheads (the inflorescence) is produced. The stems of the inflorescence are also covered in fine white hairs and usually reddish brown in color. Individual flowerheads are magenta and rayless; ray florets are completely absent. Flowerheads contain 32-60 disk florets, each 1/2-3/4" across, which have rounded or broadly angled bracts (phyllaries) with sharp tips, dull green or reddish brown in color, that are layered like fish scales around the base. To sort out the Jackson Park ironweeds: (1) if both leaves and stem are densely covered with fine white hairs, the leaves are about 3-4 times longer than wide, and each flowerhead has more than 30 disk florets, it's Missouri ironweed (V. missurica). (2) If both leaves and stems are hairless, there are less than 30 disk florets, and the leaves are narrow (typically a half inch or less; about 6-10+ times longer than wide), it's smooth ironweed (V. fasiculata). (3) If the stems and leaves have only short hairs, there are less than 30 disk florets, and the leaves are about 2" wide and 4-6 times longer than wide, it's tall ironweed (V. gigantea).

Vernonia

Vernonia missurica

Missouri ironweed [Blooms: Jul-Oct]

Yellow violet is a native perennial, the only yellow violet species in Jackson Park (indeed, in all of Illinois). One or more stems arise from an axil of a stem leaf; they are up to 6" tall with a single 3/4" long flower at their tips. Each flower consists of five light green sepals, five yellow petals, five stamens, and a single style; the stamens and style cannot be seen from the exterior. On the lower petal, the flowers have purple lines (nectar guides) and a spur reduced to a small pouch. The two lower, lateral petals have small tufts of hair that obscure the throat of the flower and hide the stamens and style; the two upper, lateral petals are beardless and have only faint lines (nectar guides), if any. The fruit of this species is a bullet-shaped (hairless in the Jackson Park forms) capsule nestled in the calyx with the remnant of the style at its tip, initially green but turning brown as it matures; it ultimately splits along three suture lines to fling the seeds away from the plant.

Viola

Viola pubescens

yellow violet [Blooms: Apr-May]