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Morrow's honeysuckle is another invasive exotic, this one from northern Asia, a highly branched shrub 6-10' high that prefers disturbed woodlands and a strong competitor for space. Flowers arise in pairs from leaf axils on pedicels at least 1/2" long. Each flower consists of a tubular greyish-green calyx with five teeth covered with short hairs; a tubular corolla 3/4-1" long and across, initially white but becoming cream colored over time, with five long, narrow, widely-spreading lobes (four on the upper lip, one on the lower lip); five stamens with white filaments and yellow anthers; and a single, slender white style with a dome-shaped, green stigma. The fruit is a red berry 1/4" across. The berries of Morrow's honeysuckle are very similar in appearance and distribution to the berries of amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii), but the former are attached to 1/2" long or longer pedicels while the latter are sessile; in addition, the leaves of amur honeysuckle have elongated "drip tips" while the leaf tips of Morrow's honeysuckle are relatively blunt.

Lonicera

Lonicera morrowii

Morrow's honeysuckle [Blooms: Apr-May]

In grape honeysuckle, a short flowering stalk emerges from the tip of the stem where it emerges from the terminal pair of leaves; 2-5 whorls of flowers develop along this flowering stalk. Each flower is about 1" long. It consists of an egg-shaped, swollen, dark green ovary; a pale yellow to orange-yellow, two-lipped corolla that fades with age to orange or red; five stamens with yellow anthers; and a single style with a dome-shaped stigma. There are no hairs on the flowers. Both the stamens and the style protrude from the corolla. The ovary of fertilized flowers produces berries which are initially green but, at maturity, become globoid, orange-red to red, and about 1/4-1/2" long. Grape honeysuckle is the only honeysuckle (native or exotic) in Jackson Park that is a woody vine; it is distinctive and should be easy to recognize.

Lonicera

Lonicera reticulata

grape honeysuckle [Blooms: Jun]

Tatarian honeysuckle's flowers arise from upper leaf axils in pairs on a 3/4-1" long pedicles. Individual flowers are 3/4" (both long and across); there is a short (1/4") green calyx with five lobes; a pink to rosy-pink tubular corolla that flares to produce five narrow, spreading lobes — the middle two lobes on the upper lip of the corolla are vertical and fused at their base, the other two are spreading; the sole lobe on the lower lip is bent down. Protruding from the throat of the corolla are five stamens with white filaments and yellow anthers and a slender, white style with a green, dome-shaped stigma. The fruit is a pair of 1/4" berries that turn bright red on maturity. Of the exotic honeysuckles (amur, Morrow's, tartarian) in Jackson Park, tartarian honeysuckle is the only species that is virtually hairless and the only one with reddish (as opposed to white) flowers. Please don't plant this species in your garden — too often, it escapes.

Lonicera

Lonicera tatarica

tatarian honeysuckle [Blooms: Apr-May]

American bugleweed flowers form in whorls of the axils of the middle and upper leaves. Individual flowers are 1/8" across, white with pinkish-purple spots, with a calyx about as long as floral tube with five teeth; the distal end of the short tubular corolla has five sharply-pointed, narrowly-triangular lobes. The two stamens with purple anthers and single style project well outside the mouth of the corolla. The fruits are four, flat-topped nutlets that form in the cup of the calyx. The deep, narrow lobes of the lower leaves are a characteristic of this species; they are not present in the other Lycopus species in Jackson Park.

Lycopus

Lycopus americanus

American bugleweed [Blooms: Jul-Sep]

Gypsywort (aka, European bugleweed) is another species native to Europe and Asia. How it came to the New World is unknown, but it has a long history in the botanical literature in Europe (back to the sixteenth century). It strongly prefers wetlands and can often be found in muds. The stem can be as much as 2.5' tall, usually unbranched, light- or yellowish-green, square in section, hairy, and finely grooved. Flowers occur in whorls in the axils of the upper leaves. Each flower is 1/8" across consisting of a green calyx with 4-5 teeth, each longer than the calyx tube, giving the mass of flowers a bristly appearance; a white tubular corolla with four apical lobes, usually with a few pink or purple spots on the lower lip; two stamens; and a style with a bifurcated tip (which can be difficult to see). The fruits are four, concave-topped nutlets cupped in the calyx. This species is known to hybridize with American bugleweed (Lycopus americanus). The medicinal properties of gypsywort are quite controversial; resist the urge to nibble.

Lycopus

Lycopus europaeus

gypsywort [Blooms: Aug-Sep]

Northern bugleweed can be up to 2.5' tall; the stem is unbranched, square in section, and light green. The leaves are opposite, 1.5-4" long and a third as wide, elliptical in outline with 5-9 coarse, sharply-pointed marginal teeth on each side of the leaf. Each pair of opposite leaves is oriented at 90° to the pairs above and below. The flowers occur in whorls in the axils of the middle and upper leaves. Individual flowers are about 1/8" long. They have a light green, very short (1 mm) calyx with 4-5 triangular teeth; a white, tubular corolla with four (or five) lobes, the uppermost notched at the tip or sometimes in two parts; two stamens with purple anthers extending just out of the corolla tube; and a style with a bifurcated tip. The fruit is four nutlets with a bumpy upper surface and a depressed center, cupped in the calyx.

Lycopus

Lycopus uniflorus

northern bugleweed [Blooms: Jul-Aug]

Fringed loosestrife is a native wildflower unrelated to the much-maligned (exotic) purple loosestrife. Flowers arise from the axils of the middle and upper leaves, held on slender, flexible pedicels up to 3" long so that the flowers commonly nod. Individual flowers are about 1" across; they have a green calyx with lance-shaped teeth behind a corolla with a reddish center and five yellow, petal-like lobes with a narrow yellow filament coming off the midline apex of most of the lobes. The five stamens have robust, tan-colored anthers and a simple white style with a tiny apical green stigma. The fruit is a shiny, green spherical capsule held cupped in the calyx. Fringed loosestrife prefers wet habitats near water or on moist hillsides.

Lysimachia

Lysimachia ciliata

fringed loosestrife [Blooms: Jun-Jul]

Winged loosestrife is a native species that has a central stem up to 3' tall, much more modest that its notorious cousin, purple loosestrife. The stem is four-sided, narrowly winged, and largely hairless; wings run along the stem but are interrupted at the leaf nodes. The inflorescence is a spike up to 1.5' long; the flowers develop singly or in pairs from the axils of bracts on the inflorescence. Each flower is pale lavender or purple and smaller than the flowers of purple loosestrife (1/4-1/2") but otherwise superficially similar — pale purple or lavender, six wrinkled petals with a medial purple stripe, six stamens. The light green, narrow calyx is about as long as the petals, has six (not five) lance-shaped teeth, and bold longitudinal stripes. The style may or may not protrude from the corolla — the flowers are distylous so the styles may either lie just inside the flower throat or protrude well outside; the style has a fuzzy, green, globular stigma. The fruit is a capsule that develops in the remnants of the calyx. Winged loosestrife prefers wet soils and is a less showy plant than purple loosestrife, but it is a native plant that plays nicely with its neighbors.

Lythrum

Lythrum alatum

winged loosestrife [Blooms: Jun-Aug]

Purple loosestrife plants are 2-5' tall. The stems branch frequently, are square in section or ridged, and are very hairy except where the stem is woody. The very showy flower spikes can be up to 20" long. Individual flowers are 1/2-1" wide that are sessile or on very short stalks; there are 5-7 (usually six) purple, wrinkled petals with a dark purple line near their base. (Imagine purple crepe paper.) The long tubular calyx is yellow-green, ridged, and hairy, with five long, narrow teeth at the distal end. Purple loosestrife is "tristylous" — it exhibits three discrete flower morphs that differ in the relative lengths of the stamens and style. Each plant bears flowers of only a single morph. Each morph has two different lengths of stamens — pistil short, stamens long AND stamens intermediate in length; pistil intermediate in length, stamens short AND long; and pistil long, stamens short AND intermediate in length. Tristyly presumably minimizes self-fertilization. Purple loosestrife is a very aggressive, invasive species which crowds out other species. Another invasive which is also called purple loosestrife, Lythrum virgatum, has similar flowers but the leaves narrow towards their base. (L. virgatum is not known to occur — yet — in Illinois.) Do not confuse purple loosestrife with the native winged loosestrife (Lythrum alatum) which has winged stems, smaller flowers (1/2"), hairless foliage, and solitary flowers in leaf axils. It's not as striking a plant as purple loosestrife, but it plays better with its neighbors.

Lythrum

Lythrum salicaria

purple loosestrife [Blooms: Jun-Sep]

Field mint flowers occur in whorls of about 20 above the axils of the upper leaves. Individual flowers are 1/8" long with a green calyx with small triangular lobes; a tubular, lavender, pink, or white corolla with a two-lobed upper lip and a lower lip with 0-3 lobes; four stamens protruding well beyond the tips of the flower; and a style longer than the stamens. The fruit consists of four small nutlets nestled in the flower calyx, each with a single seed. Field mint is a very widely-distributed (circumboreal) plant. Field mint is similar to Virginia bugleweed (Lycopus virginicus) in that both have flowers in whorls in the axils of paired, opposite leaves, but the latter has only white flowers in much sparser whirls with two stamens no longer than the tips of the flower. Field mint could possibly be confused with motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) but the latter has distinctive three or five lobed angular-cleft leaves and lacks the boldly-protruding stamens of field mint. Finally, some sources (and plant ID apps) identify "Mentha canadensis" as occurring in Illinois and neighboring states. However, both ITIS (https://www.itis.gov/) and the USDA plants database (https://plants.usda.gov/) agree that the name "Mentha canadensis," often applied to this species, is invalid and a junior synonym of Mentha arvensis (field mint).

Mentha

Mentha arvensis

field mint [Blooms: Jun-Sep]

Square-stemmed monkeyflower flowers arise singly from the upper leaf axils; they are tubular and ~1" long. The calyx is light green, elongate (about 2/3" — quite large relative to the corolla), and tubular, with five sharp longitudinal ridges/wings that project into lance-like teeth; the flower pedicels are hairless and at least as long as the calyx. The corolla is usually pale blue-violet (rarely pink or white) with a two-lobed, erect upper lip (folded so the upper sides of the lobes are back to back) and a three-lobed lower lip with a patch of yellow on either side of the midline. The throat is lined with hairs and obscured by ridges in the lower lip. The seed capsules develop within the persistant calyx. The flower is quite prolific, producing 500-1000 seeds per flower. Four stamens and a single pistil are present but not visible externally. Square-stemmed monkeyflower strongly prefers moist or wet areas. The only other Illinois monkeyflower (winged monkeyflower, Mimulus alatus) apparently does not occur this far north.

Mimulus

Mimulus ringens

square-stemmed monkeyflower [Blooms: Jul-Sep]

Wild four o'clock flowers occur in clusters of 3-5, nestled in a five-lobed, saucer-shaped green bract (often with purplish tints) folded into a boxy shape; a typical calyx is absent. Instead, the flowers "petals" are a trumpet-shaped modified calyx with five notched lobes, 1/2" across and magenta in color; the 3-5 stamens protrude from the flower and have yellow anthers while the single slender pink style is even longer than the stamens, terminating in a stigma shaped like a pin head. After fertilization, the bract opens out into a whitish, pentagonal saucer (often with purplish highlights on the margins) with five radiating ridges; the rough, black, hairy seeds are suspended from the center. It is easy to mistake the mature bract for an odd flower, but a "flower" that attaches directly to the flower pedicel and lacks any trace of other flower parts (including the stamens and pistil). It's often claimed that the flowers tend to open in the late afternoon, but the wild four o'clock in Jackson Park happily open any time of day, including the morning.

Mirabilis

Mirabilis nyctaginea

wild four-o'clock [Blooms: Jun-Sep]

Twoleaf miterwort (aka, bishop's cap) is a charming little plant with a delicate flower that looks like it drifted out of a children's book. The flowers are widely spaced along the flower stalk, attached by short pedicels. Each flower is tiny (1/8" across), bell-shaped, with a short five-lobed, greenish-white calyx, and five white petals that are deeply lobed at their tips (pinnatifid), looking like a snowflake when the flower is viewed face-on. Inside the bell are 10 stamens with yellow anthers and a pair of central styles each with a yellow, crescent-shaped stigma. The fruit is a two-lobed, green capsule (like a tiny clam shell) filled with developing shiny-black seeds, all nestled in the persistant calyx. The seeds are dispersed by raindrops striking the valves of the capsule, a fitting bit of whimsy for such a marvelous plant.

Mitella

Mitella diphylla

twoleaf miterwort [Blooms: Apr-May]

Wild bergamot is a showy plant in the mint family that often occurs in dense stands in Jackson Park. Flowerheads/clusters 1-3" in diameter arise at the apex of flower stems that arise from leaf axils. Blooming begins in the center of the cluster and moves progressively toward the periphery, with the arching flowers pointing in all directions. Flowers are tubular (they remind me of baroque trumpets with embellished bells), about 1" long. They have a short green tubular calyx; a lavender or pink corolla (other mints are white, red, or purple); an awning-like upper lip beneath which protrude two stamens with brownish-purple anthers and the single style (with an unevenly bifurcated tip) significantly longer than the stamens. The 1/2" wide lower lip offers a surface where the pollinators land. The lower lip has three small lobes at its tip. Seeds develop within the persistant calyx. The very similar bee balm (Monarda didyma) has scarlet flowers. Wild bergamot is widely used as a component of herbal teas.

Monarda

Monarda fistulosa

wild bergamot [Blooms: Jul-Aug]

Spotted beebalm (aka, spotted horsemint) is a curious-looking plant 1-3' tall; it reminds me of the top of a pineapple with spotted coffee-with-cream colored flowers under the arching leaves. There are whorls of leaf-like bracts below the flowers that are white to deep pink or lavender, shorter and broader than the leaves, and invariably have smooth margins. The flowers are 3/4-1" long with a tubular calyx with five triangular teeth at the base and a cream to yellow tubular corolla with purple spots. The corolla consists of an upper lip covered with long, fine hairs on the exterior and a lower lip with three small lobes on its tip. Nestled under and paralleling the upper lip are two stamens and a style; the brown anthers and bifurcated stigma protrude beyond the tip of the lip. The fruit consists of four nutlets hidden within the persistant calyx. Spotted beebalm is unlikely to be confused with any other wildflower in Jackson Park.

Monarda

Monarda punctata

spotted beebalm [Blooms: Jul-Aug]

Water chickweed (aka, giant chickweed) is an exotic from Europe; it resembles a much-enlarged enlarged (potentially 1-2.5' tall vs. a few inches although the stalk sprawls) version of our common chickweeds. Flowers may occur as singletons arising from the leaf axils or clusters of a few flowers at the end of the stems. Each flower is 1/2" across; it has five fuzzy, green, oval sepals slightly shorter than the petals; five white, deeply-cleft petals that look like ten; 10 stamens with white anthers; and a green ovary with five short, arching styles. The stems and the 1" long pedicels of the flowers are both very fuzzy. The fruit is an ovoid seed capsule nestled in the persistant sepals which hangs down from the pedicel when ripe; it could easily be mistaken for a bud if you didn't notice it was pointed down.

Myosoton

Myosoton aquaticum

water chickweed [Blooms: May-Jun]

Catnip flowers are largely creamy-white or pink, clustered in spike-like racemes. Each flower is small (1/3-1/2") and has two unequal lips. The upper lip has two tiny lateral lobes, is smaller than the lower, and wider than long; the three-lobed lower lip is much larger, is longer than wide, has pink or purple spots, and has a frill on the lip of the middle lobe. The four stamens have anthers that are dark purple; the style protrudes just beyond the upper lip and has a bifurcated tip (the stigma). The fruit is four one-seeded nutlets nestled in the persistant calyx.

Nepeta

Nepeta cataria

catnip [Blooms: Jun-Aug]

Spatterdock is an archaic-looking water lily, and for good reason — the genus is at least 50 million years old. Single flowers are borne on the tips of stout pedicels. The buds are enclosed in three green outer sepals which reveal three underlying yellow sepals when the flower opens. An open flower is 1-3" in diameter with the opening 40-50% of that total. The yellow petals have been reduced to oblong scale-like structures inside the flower below the stamens. The large, mushroom-shaped pistil takes up most of the center of the flower the stigmatic disc visually dominating. The very numerous, oblong, truncate, ribbon-like stamens lie immediately below the large, flattened disc-like stigma; they look nothing like the delicate stamens common in most flowers. The fruit is flask-shaped, constricted below the pistil, boldly ribbed and green on the globular body; the remnant of the stigmatic disc is red-rimmed.

Nuphar

Nuphar advena

spatterdock [Blooms: Jun-Sep]