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Plains coreopsis flowers are 1-2" across, with 6-12 (usually 8) ray florets, each with three lobes at their tips (center largest). The ray florets are sterile, typically yellow at their tips, transitioning abruptly to a maroon color more basally. The disk florets are perfect (have both anthers and pistils), reddish-brown to maroon with the florets at the edge of the disc with bright yellow highlights (either the anthers on the fused stamens or the split stigma of the pistils); individual florets have four teeth/lobes. The involucre of the flowerhead is often reddish-tinged, particularly obvious when cupping the developing seedhead.

Coreopsis

Coreopsis tinctoria

plains coreopsis [Blooms: Jun-Oct]

Tall coreopsis flowerheads arise from peduncles up to 10" long; the flowerheads are 1.5-2" across with eight sterile, yellow ray florets (each with two deep folds that divide the ray florets longitudinally into thirds) and numerous reddish-purple, fertile disk florets. The corollas of the disc florets are tubular, with 4-5 triangular lobes at their tips, and about 5 mm (~1/4") long; each has five stamens (fused together at their tips) with yellow anthers, and a single bifurcated style with pointed tips.

Coreopsis

Coreopsis tripteris

tall coreopsis [Blooms: Aug-Sep]

Whorled coreopsis' flowerheads are a bright golden yellow, 1-2" across, with eight yellow, elongate egg-shaped ray flowers and numerous (30-40) yellow disk flowers.

Coreopsis

Coreopsis verticillata

whorled coreopsis [Blooms: Jun-Sep]

Silky dogwood flowers occur in flat to convex clusters (cymes) 1-2.5" across. Individual flowers are about 3/8" across with four sharp sepals, four creamy-white, lance-like petals, four stamens about as long as the petals, and a single, stout, green-tipped style arising from an amber ovary. The flower stalks are silky-hairy.

Cornus

Cornus amomum

silky dogwood [Blooms: May-Jun]

Rough-leaved dogwood is a shrub/tree that can be as much as 20' tall. Cymes of white flowers 2-4" across arise from the leaf axils; the upper bounding surface of the cyme is flat or gently rounded. The fruit (a drupe) is white, about 1/4" across, and spherical; as it ripens, the branches of the cyme turn deep red. The fruit is very attractive to wildlife.

Cornus

Cornus drummondii

rough-leaved dogwood [Blooms: ?]

Cornelian cherry dogwood is a European exotic that has been planted in Jackson Park. Flowers appear in umbels before the leaves emerge. The flowers are small (1/8"), with four bright yellow, lance-shaped petals, four stamens, and a cone-shaped, hairy receptacle; the single pistil emerges from the center of the ovaries. The fruit is an oblong, dark red drupe about an inch long.

Cornus

Cornus mas

Cornelian cherry dogwood [Blooms: Apr-?]

Swamp dogwood's flat-topped panicles of flowers are 2-3.5" across. Single flowers are about 1/4" across with a light green, tubular calyx, four lance-shaped white petals, four stamens, and a single style.

Cornus

Cornus obliqua

swamp dogwood [Blooms: Apr-Jun]

Gray dogwood flowers occur in dome-shaped panicles with creamy-white branches 1.5-2.5" across and tall. Individual flowers are 1/4" across with a short calyx bearing four short teeth, four lance-shaped, creamy-white petals, four stamenns with pale yellow anthers, and a central, green-tipped style. The fruit is a small (1/4"), ball-shaped drupe, white when mature; when the fruit is mature, the branches of the panicle turn from white to bright red. Rough-leaved dogwood and red-osier dogwood also produce white fruit, but their panicles are flat-topped, not domed; the panicle branches are also not red in red-osier dogwood, but they are in rough-leaved dogwood so carefully inspect the stems (hairy) to see if the specimen in hand might be the latter.

Cornus

Cornus racemosa

gray dogwood [Blooms: May-Jun]

Red-osier dogwood flowers occur in flat-topped or slightly concave panicles 2-3" across; each flower is about 1/4" across with a small green calyx with four teeth; four white, lance-shaped petals; four stamens longer than the petals; and a single style rising from a reddish ovary. The fruit is a drupe about 1/4" across, white at maturity; the panicle branches remain green (unlike gray dogwood where the panicle branches turn red).

Cornus

Cornus sericea

red-osier dogwood [Blooms: Apr-Sep]

Mullein foxglove has an odd-looking but very attractive flower that always makes me think of Burt Lahr's Cowardly Lion in the (1939) Wizard of Oz. Individual flowers are about 1/2-3/4" long and across with a basal green calyx decorated with five blunt teeth. The bright yellow, tubular corolla terminates in five spreading lobes; the upper two lobes are reflected backwards, while the lower three lobes (presumably) function as a landing pad for pollinators (mostly bumblebees). From the front, the opening into the corolla is largely obscured by numerous fine yellow hairs that tend to hide the stamens (present in two distinct lengths) and the single style with a two-lobed stigma.

Dasistoma

Dasistoma macrophylla

mullein foxglove [Blooms: Jul-Aug]

Decodon verticillatus

Decodon

Decodon verticillatus

swamp loosestrife [Blooms: Jul-Aug]

Deptford pink flowers are 1/4-1/2" across with hairy petals that are pink with white dots, 10 stamens with purplish-pink anthers, and two 1 cm long, filamentous styles; the rounded tips of the petals are toothed. The calyx is long (3/4") relative to the size of the corolla, tubular, and hairy with five thin extensions; narrow bracts lie more or less parallel to the elongated calyx. No other local flower looks anything like Deptford pinks.

Dianthus

Dianthus armeria

Deptford pink [Blooms: Jun-Aug]

Northern bush honeysuckle flowers occur in clusters of 2-7 arising from leaf axils or at the tips of year-old branches; the flowers are initially yellow but they turn orange-red with age. The flowers are funnel-shaped, 1/2-3/4" long, hairy on the inside, with four slender lobes and a fifth, wider and darker lobe; the base of the flower is surrounded by five triangular sepals as long as the floral tube. The five stamens are densely hairy with yellow anthers; the style is long, slender, green, with a dome-like stigma.

Diervilla

Diervilla lonicera

northern bush honeysuckle [Blooms: May-Jul]

Wild teasel produces one or more flowering stalks 2.5-6' tall, reddish- or pale green, with longitudinal ridges and scattered white prickles. The flowerhead is up to 4" tall and 1.5" across, initially egg-shaped but elongating as it matures. At the base of the flowerhead are narrow, prickly, sharply-pointed bracts up to 6" long that arch up to surround the flowerhead. Individual flowers are packed around the flowerhead like cells in a honeycomb, each flower with a 3/4" long bract that tapers to a sharp point. Individual flowers are white along most of their length, tubular, about 1/2" long, flaring out to four pale purple or lavender lobes; four stamens with white filaments and purple to lavender anthers and a single white style all protrude well beyond the end of the tube. Flowers bloom initially about halfway up the flowerhead but, later, rings of blooms develop at the base and apex of the flowerhead. Cut-leaved teasel was introduced to North America in the 18th century; the spiky flowerheads were used to comb wool and to raise the nap of (aka, "full") fabric. (Thus the species name, fullonum.) I've only seen this plant once in Jackson Park, but hope it returns (but not in excessive numbers).

Dipsacus

Dipsacus fullonum

wild teasel [Blooms: Jul-?]

Cut-leaved teasel behive-shaped flowerheads are 2-4" long and 1.5" across, spiky in every aspect. At the base of the flowerhead are 2-4" long, narrow bracts with sharp points that protrude radially. (These bracts in wild teasel, Dipsacus fullonum, arch up around the flowerhead.) Individual flowers are packed around the flowerhead like cells in a honeycomb, each flower with a 3/4" long bract that tapers to a sharp point. Individual flower are white, tubular, about 1/2" long, flaring out to four lobes; four stamens with white anthers protrude from the tube well beyond its end and there is a single style with a stigma positioned laterally at the style tip. Flowers bloom in a circle progressively from the base of the flowerhead to its tip.

Dipsacus

Dipsacus laciniatus

cut-leaved teasel [Blooms: Jul-Aug]

Purple coneflower flowerheads are solitary, 2.5-4" across, on the end of light green stems with purple streaks. The center of flowerhead is a flattened or (usually) peaked cone of numerous reddish-orange disc florets about 1/4" long, tubular, deep red to purplish-brown in color; stamens bear yellow pollen. The 10-20 ray florets are each 1.5-3" long and 1/4-3/4" wide, initially spreading, but droop as they mature; they are pink to purple, elongate-oval, often with three notches at the tips of the petals.

Echinacea

Echinacea purpurea

purple coneflower [Blooms: Jul-Aug]

Yerba de tajo's flowerheads arise in groups of 1-3 from the leaf axils on short pedicels; individual flowerheads are 1/4-1/3" across with 8-16 triangular, green, basal bracts, numerous (20+) off-white, thin ray florets with a protruding style, and numerous (15+) light grey to cream disc florets with four tiny spreading lobes, and four protruding light brown anthers and a branching style. Ray flowers are pistillate; disc flowers have both stamens and pistils.

Eclipta

Eclipta prostrata

yerba de tajo [Blooms: Aug-Sep]

in common spike-rush, at the tip of the culm is a single spike, elongate-ovoid with a sharply pointed tip, up to about 1" long; 30-100 florets ( each with three stamens bearing dark yellow anthers and a split style) are spirally arranged around the spikelet, each protected by a pointed scale 3-5 mm long. The scales have a green to straw-colored midrib, reddish- or orange-brown flanks, and a translucent edge. The two lowest scales in the spike lack flowers. The lowest scale wraps less than 3/4 of the base; it is mostly green bordered by a brown band and a translucent, rounded edge and is more leathery than other scales.

Eleocharis

Eleocharis palustris

common spike-rush [Blooms: May-Jul]