Showing 55–72 of 173 results

Filtered (7)
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. The fruits are red, sac-like structures (the ovary) topped by the persistant sepals; the mature seed capsules are 1/3-1/2" long, green to brown in color, egg shaped or oblong (like medicinal capsule) filled with half-millimeter long, golden brown seeds.

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]

Aunt Lucy (Ellisia nyctelea) flowers arise from the leaf axils. The flowers are small and tubular (1/4" wide x 1/2" long); the five petallike lobes are white with purple lines or specks; the five stamens are hidden within the corolla, alternating with the corollar lobes and the style is divided for about half ts length; the sepals are hairy and as large as the petals. The fruit is a 1/4" long hairy, white body that looks like two spheres squashed together, resting on the sepals; it usually contains 4 seeds. This species is very common in late spring in open but shaded areas on Wooded Island. How it acquired the moniker "Aunt Lucy" is obscure.

Ellisia

Ellisia nyctelea

Aunt Lucy [Blooms: Apr-Jun]

Cinnamon willowherb flowers are 1/4-1/3" across and arise from the axils of the upper leaves on 1/2" flower stalks, but the ovary of the flower is a hairy, elongate cylinder slightly wider than the flower stalk; the base of the sepals and petals (less than 1/4" long) may thus be elevated 1.5" above the leaf axil — a tiny flower on the tip of a long cylinder. Above the elongated ovary are four green sepals (with pink or purple tints), four deeply-notched white or light pink petals, a stout pistil with a knobby end, and eight stamens, four long, four short. After fertilization, the ovary elongates to as much as 3" long, dries to a brown color, then splits into two or four segments to release tiny seeds suspended under a tuft of long light brown hairs.

Epilobium

Epilobium coloratum

cinnamon willowherb [Blooms: Jul-Sep]

Winged euonymous' younger stems and branches have geen bark and 2-4 cork-like "wings" (thin plates whose plane lies in a radius of the branch). Clusters of 1-3 flowers arise from leaf axils; individual flowers are about 1/3" (8 mm) across with four green sepals, four yellowish-green petals, four stamens, and a green central dome which bears the single pistil with a reddish, multilobed stigma. Four-lobed seed capsules become dark red or purple at maturity; they split to expose 1-4 reddish-orange arils.

Euonymus

Euonymus alatus

winged Euonymus [Blooms: May-Jun]

Eastern wahoo (Euonymus atropurpureus) is a native shrub or small tree whose range covers most of the eastern half of the U.S. The inflorescence is a branching cyme that arises from a leaf axil; the cyme carries seven to about twenty reddish-purple to maroon flowers. Individual flowers are about 8 mm (a bit over 1/4") across, hairless, with four greenish purple, oval sepals that are fused at their bases; four spreading, reddish purple, oval petals; four stubby stamens with yellow anthers; and a pistil with a short, stout, green style. Fertilized flowers produce a four lobed seed capsule, initially light pink or pale purple but maturing to pinkish purple. The seed capsule splits open in the fall to expose four fleshy, bright red arils (the fruits), each of which contains two seeds. A handout occasionally distributed by the Jackson Park Advisory Council ("Wooded Island Tree Identification") identifies one tree on the west side of Wooded Island (south of Osaka Garden) as an Eastern Wahoo. This tree, unfortunately, is not an Eastern wahoo but is instead an exotic species of Euonymus — a European spindletree (E. europaeus). Indeed, all the Euonymus sp. on Wooded Island are one of three exotic species — winged Euonymus (E. alatus), European spindletree (E. europaeus), or Hamilton's spindletree (E. hamiltonianus) and all three have blooms that lack the deep maroon color of Eastern wahoo's flowers. A sapling labeled "Eastern Wahoo (Euonymous atropurpureus)" was planted on the south shore of Columbia Basin in 2022. When it bloomed this year (2026) and showed maroon petals on the flowers, I could finally confirm that species identification. The seed capsule of Eastern Wahoo is pinker than those of European spindletree (E. europaeus) or Hamilton's spindletree (E. hamiltonianus) and the arils are orange or scarlet respectively, not the red of Eastern wahoo. The best way to distinguish the three species is by the color of their petals — only Eastern wahoo has reddish purple to maroon petals, while the other two species have petals that are white, green, or yellow.

Euonymus

Euonymus atropurpureus

Eastern wahoo [Blooms: Jun]

European spindletree flowers (usually less than 7) occur in clusters (cymes) with long peduncles; they have four sepals, four petals, four stamens with white anthers, and a single stout style. The greenish-white or yellow petals on the flowers appear to be very narrow, half the width of the petals of Hamilton's spindletree. (In reality, the petals are curled into a U-shape towards the stem so they only appear narrow.) The sepals are pale green, about half the length of the petals, and bent back beneath the flower. The fruit is pink, not red; the arils covering the seeds are orange, not red or scarlet. European spindletree blooms later in the spring in Jackson Park than Hamilton's spindletree.

Euonymus

Euonymus europaeus

European spindletree [Blooms: Apr-Jun]

Tall boneset flowerheads are tiny (1/8" across) with no ray florets and typically only five disc florets. Disc florets are dull white with a tubular corolla and a long bifurcated style that extends well away from the floret; the base of the style is greenish and surrounded by five brown stamens with white tips. The apex of the corolla has five prominant, triangular lobes that give the florets a star-like appearance.

Eupatorium

Eupatorium altissimum

tall boneset [Blooms: Aug-Oct]

Common boneset's upper stem and branches bear clusters 2-8" across of white flowerheads. Each flowerhead is about 4-6 mm across consisting of ~15-20 dull white disk florets (ray florets are absent); florets have a tubular corolla with five triangular lobes at the apical end and a long, bifurcated style surrounded at its base with a brown column of five stamens with purplish anthers. Ironically, "common" boneset is less common than late boneset or tall boneset in Jackson Park.

Eupatorium

Eupatorium perfoliatum

common boneset [Blooms: Jul-Aug]

Late boneset's inflorescence is a flat-topped or shallowly-domed panicle with numerous flowerheads. Individual flowerheads are composed of 12-15 greyish-white disk floret (ray florets are absent) about 1/4" long with a tubular corolla with five small, triangular apical lobes and a long white bifurcated style extending well out from the floret surrounded by five black stamens. Leaf venation, lack of leaf hairs, and and smaller flowerheads (~5-8 florets) distinguish tall bonset (E.altissium) from late boneset (E. serotinum; 12-15 florets).

Eupatorium

Eupatorium serotinum

late boneset [Blooms: Aug-Oct]

Seaside sandmat cyathia (cup-like reproductive structures typical of euphorbs) develop between pairs of leaves, typically one cyathium with a short reddish stalk per pair of leaves. On the rim of the cyathium are four to six red nectar glands; each nectar gland alternates with a narrow, elongate lobe. In the center of the cyathium is a female flower with a three-lobed, light green ovary topped by a tripartite style; the flower sits on a stout pedicel that elongates and curves as it matures. Between the central female flower and the rim of the cyathium are several male flowers, each consisting of a single stamen. Seaside sandmat prefers beach habitats around the Great Lakes and along the Atlantic coast.

Euphorbia

Euphorbia polygonifolia

seaside sandmat [Blooms: Jul-Sep]

Forsythia flowers occur singly or in clusters of 2-3 arising from the axils of leaf buds; the flowers have short (1/8-1/4") pedicels. The flowers consist of four green 1/4" long sepals fused at their bases; a bell to saucer-shaped corolla that also has four deep, strap-shaped, brilliant yellow lobes; two stamens that are fused to the base of the corolla tube; and a single style with a pair of ascending, hemispherical terminal lobes (the stigmas). Forsythia is distylous, producing either short (3-5 mm) stamens in combination with long (5-7 mm) pistils or long (6-7 mm) stamens in combination with short (3 mm) pistils. Each of these flower morphs is restricted to a given plant; forsythia is an obligate outcrossing species. Fruits are rarely produced in North American forsythia, possibly because the complementary flower morph is rarely in close proximity to a given plant. However, forsythia can propagate asexually via cuttings.

Forsythia

Forsythia suspensa

forsythia [Blooms: Mar-Apr]

Green ash is dioecius; each tree produces only either male (staminate) or female (pistillate) flowers (which are wind pollinated). The flowers open in mid-spring, before the leaves emerge. Male flowers are produced in compact clusters that envelop short sections of the second-year twigs. Each staminate flower is yellowish green to greenish purple and less than 1/8" (3 mm) across, consisting of a tiny, four-lobed, tubular calyx and a pair of purplish stamens. Petals are absent. Female flowers are also produced on the second-year twigs, in this case in small panicles. Each female flower consists of a tiny four-lobed, tubular calyx and a pistil with a single, long style; again, petals are absent. Fertilized flowers are replaced by panicles of drooping, spatula-shaped, winged seeds 1-2.5" long and 1/4-1/3" wide that have an ellipsoid swelling at one end containing the seed and a single elongated, membranous wing with a rounded or notched tip. When released in the autumn, the greenish to tan fruits spin around the seed, reducing their rate of fall so they can be carried greater distances by the ambient wind. Green ash is tolerant of shading so can grow in mature forests; it prefers moist soils and can tolerate some flooding.

Fraxinus

Fraxinus pennsylvanica

green ash [Blooms: May?]

Gallant-soldier (aka, small-flowered galinsoga) flowerheads are about 1/4" across; they have 4-8 (usually 5) ray florets with a single minute (about 2x2 mm) white petal notched to produce two or three lobes; the ray florets are distributed around the circumstance of the disc. There are 15-50 golden yellow, tubular disc florets with five short triangular lobes at their apex. Both ray and disc florets are fertile; the ray florets are pistillate while the disc florets are perfect (both pistils and stamens). The fruit (a cypsela) consists of a black, conical seed suspended beneath about five off-white, papery, fringed scales that act as a parachute. Gallant-soldier is very similar to galinsoga (Galinsoga quadriradiata); the latter has larger flowerheads and ray floret petals.

Galinsoga

Galinsoga parviflora

gallant-soldier [Blooms: Aug-Sep]