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Red chokeberry is a 6-12" tall shrub with multiple stems. Flowers are white with red tinge on the tips of the 5 petals; each flower is ~1" in diameter.

Aronia

Aronia arbutifolia

red chokeberry [Blooms: Apr-May]

Black chokeberry flowers occur in clusters of 7-12 near the margins of the shrub. Each flower is ~1/2" across with a reddish-green calyx with 5 short triangular lobes, 5 white, spoon-shaped, non-overlapping petals with rounded tips and a narrow base, 16-20 stamens with pink to rose-colored anthers, and 5 pale green styles, fused at their bases. The red glands on the upper leaf midvein and pink to rose-colored stamens are diagnostic of black chokeberry.

Aronia

Aronia melanocarpa

black chokeberry [Blooms: May-?]

Beach wormwood is an unusual plant 2-4' tall with characteristic, deeply dissected leaves. The flowerheads are 2-4 mm long and wide; each is composed of 5-20 outer disk florets that bear only stamens and 8-30 inner disc florets that possess both pistils and stamens. There are no ray florets.

Artemisia

Artemisia campestris

beach wormwood [Blooms: Aug-Sep]

Mugwort's Inflorescence consists of leafy spikes covered with inconspicuous flowerheads, initially whitish-green, later yellowish- or purplish-green; the flowerheads are egg-shaped, very small (1/8" across) and bear only disc florets (ray florets absent).

Artemisia

Artemisia vulgaris

mugwort [Blooms: Jul-Oct]

Wild ginger's flowers are ~1-2" across, reddish-brown on the outside, cream colored on the inside, that develop from an axis at the junction of the two leaves (one flower per plant). The flower calyx consists of three triangular sepals with the long tips curled backwards; the tubular base of the calyx is divided into three pairs of chambers (six total) which contain the ovaries, twelve stamens, and six reddish-brown styles. Because the flowers are brown and occur right at ground level, they are easy to overlook and usually can only be seen by parting the leaves.

Asarum

Asarum canadense

wild ginger [Blooms: Apr/May-?]

Prairie milkweed produces one and a half to two inch balls of 30-100 greenish-white flowers in the axils of a few of the mid-stem and upper leaves; the flowers are supported on 1/2"-3/4" pedicels. Each flower is about 1/8" across and 1/4" long; the flowers are a variation on the typical (complex) milkweed morphology with 5 sepals, a 5-lobed corolla with 5 petals (often with purple blotches at their tips) that are reflected backwards to cover the top of the pedicel, 5 hoods without horns, and a short central column that rises above the hoods; there is a distinct gap between the bases of the petals and the crown. Seedpods are 4-5" long with a fat base (attached to the pedicel) tapering rapidly to a narrow tip. Prairie milkweed can be confused with whorled milkweed (Asclepias verticillata) — both occur in Jackson Park — but whorled milkweed has even narrower (grass-like) leaves than prairie milkweed, is a shorter plant, and has pure white flower that do bear horns.

Asclepias

Asclepias hirtella

prairie milkweed [Blooms: Jun-Aug]

The flowerheads of swamp milkweed are erect, ~3" across, with 10-40 flowers; flowers are 1/4" across and typical milkweed morphology with pink petals and whitish hoods, but color can vary from pink to magenta; the central column is cream-colored and visible below the base of the hoods. The petals are reflected backwards but are not tightly pressed against the stem; the horns arch up and over the central column and taper to a sharp point.

Asclepias

Asclepias incarnata

swamp milkweed [Blooms: Jul-Aug]

The height of the stem and the leaves of Sullivant's milkweed are similar to common milkweed. Each plant produces 1-3 (total) flower clusters from the stem apex and adjacent leaf axils; each cluster is 2-4" across and has ~15-25 flowers, each ~1/2" across. The flower petals are pink to rich purple, with white bases; the hoods are usually noticeably lighter. The horns are laterally compressed (sickle-shaped) and their tips clearly overlap over the column.

Asclepias

Asclepias sullivantii

Sullivant's milkweed [Blooms: Jul-Aug]

Common milkweed's flowers arise from leaf axils, are 2.5-5" wide, hemispherical, and covered with typical 1/2" wide milkweed flowers ranging from light pink to reddish-purple; the petals, reflexed back around the base of the flower are darker than the hoods.

Asclepias

Asclepias syriaca

common milkweed [Blooms: Jun-Aug]

Butterfly weed has clusters of 8-25 flowers, in various shades of orange with touches of yellow or red, that arise from the stems and leaf axils. Individual flowers have a typical milkweed morphology, with the petals reflexed backwards over the flower stalk and the complex corona protruding. The central column of the corona in A. tuberosa is always yellow regardless of the shade of the remainder of the flower. This is the only Illinois milkweed with orange flowers and has narrower leaves than all other local milkweeds except whorled milkweed (A. verticillata, which has white flowers).

Asclepias

Asclepias tuberosa

butterfly milkweed [Blooms: Jun-Sep]

Whorled milkweed's flowers are white, occurring in small (1-3") clusters that rise from leaf axils. Individual flowers are typical milkweeds (except for their color), 1/4" across; horns are sickle-shaped, petals are white or greenish-white. Once you recognize that this plant IS a milkweed, given its grass-like leaves in whorls, it is impossible to mistake it for any other local species.

Asclepias

Asclepias verticillata

whorled milkweed [Blooms: Jul-Sep]

Canada milkvetch flower stalks are ~6" long, covered by numerous (up to 75) cream-colored, tubular flowers (right side of image). Individual flowers are 1/2-3/4" long, slightly drooping, with five petals making up the tube (like an elongated pea flower) and a short (~1/4") cylindrical calyx of the same color with five thin, green teeth; the tip of the upper petal is reflected upwards. The fruits (left side of image) are short, pea-like legumes packed tightly along the flower spike.

Astragalus

Astragalus canadensis

Canada milkvetch [Blooms: Jun-Aug]

White wild indigo is a striking plant that puts up 3-6' tall spikes of white flowers; the flower spikes alone are up to 2' long. Each flower is ~1" long and across with a elongate, triangular bract at the base of the flower pedicel. A short (1/2"), tubular, bluish-green calyx with four triangular teeth encloses the base of a white typical pea-like flower with a forward-leaning banner (one petal, folded up and back along the midline) and a pair of wings (two petals) that enclose a keel (two petals); the keel encloses ten green stamens with orange anthers and the single style.

Baptisia

Baptisia alba

white wild-indigo [Blooms: May-Aug]

Stems of cream wild indigo terminate in 3-9" long flower spikes that sprawl laterally or arch. Each flower is ~1" long and across with a short (1/2"), tubular, light green to light purple calyx with 4-5 triangular teeth, a creamy-yellow (or very yellow) typical pea-like flower with a vertical banner (one petal) and a pair of wings (two petals) that enclose a keel (two petals); the keel encloses ten stamens and the single style. Flowers are held on ~1" long pedicels; at the base of each pedicel, a lance-shaped, 1/2-1" long bract is sessile on the flower stalk. This is our earliest-blooming wild indigo. Flower color, the profuse hairs, and the bracts at the base of each flower pedicel are sufficient to positively identify cream wild indigo.

Baptisia

Baptisia bracteata

cream wild-indigo [Blooms: May-Jun]

Yellow mustard produces inflorescences at the apices of the stems; individual flowers are 3/8" across with four yellowish-green sepals, four yellow petals, six stamens with yellow anthers, and a single pistil with a robust style.

Barbarea

Barbarea vulgaris

yellow rocket [Blooms: Apr-May]

River birch male (left) and female (right) catkins. Individual (highly modified) flowers are distributed over the surface of the catkins.

Betula

Betula nigra

river birch [Blooms: Apr-Jun]

Spanish needles flowers are 1/2" long and 1/4" across; they occur individually on the end of long peduncles. Each flower has 3-5 (sometimes zero) ovoid, yellow, petal-like ray florets around 12-27 yellow, tubular disc florets, each with five small lobes at their tips, 5 stamens, and a bifurcated style. Even in full bloom, the flowers look like buds. After fertilization, each flower produces needle-like, brown, four-angled, barbed seeds, each 1/2-3/4" long, that radiate in all directions from the base of the old flower.

Bidens

Bidens bipinnata

Spanish needles [Blooms: Aug-Sep]

Nodding bur-marigold's flowers usually have eight ray florets ("petals") that are elliptical; the flower is 1-2" across with the flower stem arising from leaf axil. Flowers nod down with age. The phyllaries at the base of the flowers are in two series — the outer phyllaries are of variable length but narrow, curly, and green; the inner phyllaries are almond shaped, as wide as the petals, and pale yellow-green.

Bidens

Bidens cernua

nodding bur-marigold [Blooms: Aug-Oct]