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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]

Galinsoga (aka, Peruvian daisy or shaggy soldier) flowerheads are small (1/4" across) with 4-8 (usually five) widely separated 2.5 mm long, white ray florets with three teeth at their tips. The 15-35 disc florets are yellow. 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. A poisonous plant (Tridax procumbens) with nearly identical flowers (but distinctly different leaves) is (luckily) restricted to FL and TX in the U.S. so not likely to show up in Jackson Park. The name Galinsoga ciliata, sometimes still used for Galinsoga quadriradiata, is invalid (ITIS); according to the USDA Plants database, C. ciliata has been superceded by either G. quadriradiata or G. urticifolia.

Galinsoga

Galinsoga quadriradiata

galinsoga [Blooms: Jun-Oct]

Cleavers' flowers are tiny (2-3 mm across), star-shaped, with two green carpels covered with hooked hairs joined at the base of the flower; four white, pointed petals; four stamens; and two styles. The fruit is a spherical capsule formed from the carpels, covered with stiff, hooked hairs, each carpel containing a single seed.

Galium

Galium aparine

cleavers [Blooms: Apr/May-?]

Dyer's greenweed is a woody shrub that grows 2-3' tall, introduced from Europe and Siberia (and probably escaped from gardens). The multiple stems are green and round in section. The leaves are 1/2-1" long and about half as wide, alternate, sessile, lance-shaped or oblong, hairy on the upper surface, with smooth margins. The inflorescence is a 1-3" wide raceme. Individual flowers are 1/2-3/4" across, bright yellow, with a strong resemblance to tick-trefoils — a banner held at about a 45° angle, two wings and two parallel keels. The fruit is a 1-3" long pea-like pod containing 8-12 black, shiny seeds. The common name derives from the use of this plant to produce a yellow dye.

Genista

Genista tinctoria

dyer's greenweed [Blooms: Oct]

Cream gentian the leaves are olive-green, lance-shaped with a pronounced fold along the midvein, 3" long and 2" across, and clasp the stem. Although most leaves are opposite (in pairs), the leaves just below the flowers occur in a whorl of three. The flowers are mostly apical, some version of white or cream, tubular, with the petal's veins outlined in green, about 1-2" tall and 3/4" across, and oriented near-vertically. The five petals remain tightly appressed, with only a small opening where their apices meet; the five stamens and pistil with a bifurcated stigma are usually hidden from view. Bumblebees are the primary pollinators.

Gentiana

Gentiana alba

cream gentian [Blooms: Jul-Oct]

Carolina crane's-bill flowers are small (about 1/4-3/8" across), in small clusters on stubby pedicels. Each flower contains five dull-green, very hairy, lance-shaped sepals with long, scarlet-tipped awns on the tips, five white to pinkish-lavendar petals shorter than the sepals, ten stamens with tan anthers, and five stamens fused at their bases. The fruit is spherical with a very long beak divided longitudinally into five sections; when ripe (the fruit turns bright red) , the beak splits violently into five strips attached to each other at their distal ends, flinging the seeds far from the parent plant. Carolina crane's-bill has white to pinkish flowers with sepals longer than the petals; cut-leaved crane's-bill (Geranium dissectum) has deep pink to purple flowers with sepals the same length as the petals.

Geranium

Geranium carolinianum

Carolina crane's-bill [Blooms: May-Jun]

Cut-leaved crane's-bill's very attractive flowers occur in pairs. The base of the flower is covered by five green sepals the same length as the petals, covered externally in glandular hairs; the tips of the sepals are drawn out into a short (1-2 mm) awn that is scarlet-tipped. The five petals are a deep pink to purple in color; there are five pink stamens with purplish-yellow anthers; the five styles produce a deep pink, star-shaped stigma at their tips. The fruit consists of five hairy spheres around the base of an elongate "crane's bill" which splits explosively when ripe into five strips attached at their distal ends, flinging the seeds far and wide. Carolina crane's-bill (Geranium carolinianum) has white to pinkish flowers with sepals longer than the petals; cut-leaved crane's-bill has deep pink to purple flowers with sepals the same length as the petals.

Geranium

Geranium dissectum

cut-leaved crane's-bill [Blooms: May-Jun]

Wild geranium flowers are about 1.5 " across; they have five spindle-shaped, green sepals with a short red-tipped awn at their tips and five purplish-pink petals, twice the length of the sepals, that are egg-shaped with broady rounded tips and have darker fine radiating lines that function as necter guides. The ten stamens have pale yellow anthers; the single pistel has five carpels that splay at the tip of the pistil into a starfish shape. The anthers produce pollen while the five styles' stigmas remain pressed together; after the anthers are spent, the stigmas separate. The fruit is a candle-shaped, cylindrical structure with a sharp tip. The carpels build up tension as they dry until they spontaneously snap near their base (above the sepals); as the carpel violently curls upward, it flings a single seed considerable distances like a tiny catapult.

Geranium

Geranium maculatum

wild geranium [Blooms: Apr-Jun]

White avens blooms slightly later than rough avens (Geum laciniatum); it reaches about the same size (1.5-2.5' tall). The flowers are 1/2" diameter; they have five green sepals that are white-edged, pointed, and the same length or (usually) shorter than the petals; five white, rounded petals with a narrow attachment; and numerous (25-120) stamens surrounding a dome-shaped mass of green styles about a third the diameter of flower. The sepals initially lie under the petals but later become reflexed back parallel to the flower peduncle.The spherical fruit is covered with long, hooked spines (actually, persistant styles) that help the seeds stick to fur and clothing. White avens is distinguished from rough avens (G. lacinatum) by their flower stalks covered with short, fine hairs (rather than long, coarse hairs) and sepals that are shorter than the petals.

Geum

Geum canadense

white avens [Blooms: Jun-Jul]

Rough avens flowers are 1/2" wide, with five triangular green sepals longer than the petals, five cream or white, circular petals with narrow attachments, and numerous (25-120) stamens with (initially) cream-colored anthers distributed around a central gumdrop-shaped mound of green carpels with long styles. The fruit is more or less spheroid, 3/4" across, and covered with long, hooked spines (actually, persistant styles) that help the seeds attach to clothing and animal fur. Note that some sources identify this species as Geum virginianum, but G. virginianum is the cream avens according to the USDA Plants database; Hilty (ILW) lists G. virginianum as "restricted to southern Illinois". The two species are very similar, but G. lacinatum has very hairy stems and hairless receptacles and G. virginianum has smaller flowers (1/3") with cream-colored petals dwarfed by the sepals. Rough avens is distinguished from white avens (G. canadense, also found in Jackson Park) by petals that are shorter than the sepals and their very hairy flower stalks; rough avens also blooms earlier than whte avens.

Geum

Geum laciniatum

rough avens [Blooms: June]

Prairie smoke leaves, stems, and the exterior of the flowers are densely hairy. Reddish-green or -purple flowering stalks arise from the center of the leaf rosette; they produce three buds at their apex which develop into three nodding flowers (as implied by the species name) with a pair of bracts at the base of the triplet that are divided into narrow strips as if cut with scissors. Each flower is 3/4-1" in both dimensions; five triangular red to reddish-purple sepals hide almost all the remainder of the flower, covering all of the five white or reddish petals except their tips, a ring of stamens, and a central cluster of pistils. The opening to the interior of the flower is highly constricted. A spreading, narrow floral bract identical in color to the sepals lies between each pair of sepals (for a total of five). After fertilization (by bumblebees), the flower peduncle straightens so the flower points straight up. A dense cluster of seeds attached to 2" long, feathery plumes (the "smoke") transform the appearance of the flower; the seeds are later dispersed by the wind. Frustrated bumblebees unable to force their way into flowers (and some wasps and beetles) may occasionally chew their way through the sepals and petals near the base of the flower to access the nectar. No other avens (Geum sp.) in Illinois produces seeds with feathery plumes; prairie smoke's closest relatives in Jackson Park, whte avens and rough avens, look nothing like it.

Geum

Geum triflorum

prairie smoke [Blooms: Apr-Jun]

Ground ivy flowers are 1/2" long and arise from the leaf axils; they are purplish, trumpet shaped, with a notched upper and lower (the largest) lobe and two small side lobes; the "throat" of the lower lobe is hairy. There are four stamens (two long, two short) with purple to blue anthers, and a single pistil with a bifurcated purple style. The corolla of the flowers is cupped by a hairy, green, tubular calyx that has 15 ridges distributed around the calyx running longitudinally, and five triangular teeth at the apex of the calyx. The fruit is a nutlet that nestles in the calyx.

Glechoma

Glechoma hederacea

ground ivy [Blooms: Apr-May]

Honey locust is a native tree that grows 50-100' tall; it has a single trunk 2-3.5' in diamater. The bark on the trunk is gray-black, divided into plates with peeling edges; the bark of twigs and branches is smoother, brown, and hairless. New shoots are green and fuzzy. Leaves are alternate and invariably compound, either even-pinnate (i.e., the leaflets are all paired, with no terminal leaflet) all 6-14" long with 5-11 pairs of leaflets, or bipinnate (i.e., the primary divisions of the compound leaf are themselves pinnate) with 4-7 pairs of even-pinnate leaflets 6-14" long, each with 5-11 pairs of leaflets. Leaflets are 3/4-1.5" long and about a third as wide. Thorns, both simple and branched, are usually present, especially on the trunk, but a thornless form exists; newly formed thorns can be a brilliant red. Flowers are present in 2-5" long racemes, usually as either male or female, but perfect flowers may be present. The flowers are small (1/8-1/4" across) and greenish-yellow. The fruit is a 6-14" long, dark-brown seedpod.

Gleditsia

Gleditsia triacanthos

honey locust [Blooms: May-Jun]

Kentucky coffeetree produces a single 1.5-3' diameter trunk that, with its branches, can reach heights of 60-90'. The trunk bark is rough, scaly, gray or gray-brown; the bark on the branches is smoother, gray; the bark on the twigs is gray or brown with whitish lenticels. The leaves are alternate, bipinnate-compound, with 5-9 pairs of pinnate leaflets, each with 6-14 pairs of subleaflets. The entire compound leaf can be 3' long and 2' across, the largest leaf of any native tree in Illinois. Individual trees may produce only male flowers, only female flowers, or "perfect" flowers with both male and female organs flowers; the flowers develop as racemes on terminal branches fairly high in the crown shortly after the tree leafs out in the spring. Flowers are about 3/4" long and 1/2-5/8" across with a narrow, tubular calyx bearing five thick, narrow, sepals, and five narrow, greenish-white petals, slightly wider than the sepals, and a central column about as long as the petals that contains the reproductive organs. The male and perfect flowers have 10 fertile stamens (in alternating long/short pairs) in the central column; the female and perfect flowers have a fertile ovary and a single style contained in the central column. The calyx, sepals, and petals are all densely wooly with short hairs. The fruit is a stubby, reddish-brown seedpod 3-6" long and 1.5-2" across, somewhat flattened but less so than the fruits of honey or black locust. The seeds are brown, VERY hard, oval, and about a half inch long and across; they are toxic when raw but can be eaten after roasting.

Gymnocladus

Gymnocladus dioicus

Kentucky coffeetree [Blooms: May-Jun]

Although stickseed flowers are tiny (1/8"), they have the ususal complement of parts — a hairy green calyx with five long, narrow teeth that alternate with the petals; five rounded white (or light blue) petals (actually lobes of the corolla tube); five arching, scale-like structures surrounding the opening to the tube; five stamens largely hidden inside the corolla tube; and a four-lobed ovary with a short style, similarly hidden inside the corolla tube. The fruits are globular, <1/4" across, densely covered with hooked prickles; they are purportedly the most difficult of such "sticktights" to remove from clothing.

Hackelia

Hackelia virginiana

stickseed [Blooms: Jul-Aug]

Sneezeweed flowers (1-2" across) have a more or less hemispherical central disc of 200-400 yellow-orange disc florets (which have both pistils and stamens) are each less than 1/8" across, surrounded by 10-15 pistillate ray florets that are triangular (narrowest at the insertion on the central disc) and three- or four-lobed along the squared-off distal margin ("doubly-notched"). The domed central disc on the flowers and the winged stems are diagnostic for this species. The base of sneezeweeds' flowers are covered by a single layer of long, narrow bracts that are fused together at their bases. Sneezeweed flowers are very similar to bitterweed (Helenium amarum) but the latter has long, thread-like leaves; I've not seen bitterweed in Jackson Park. The foliage contains sesquiterpene lactones that are bitter and toxic to mammalian herbivores, including cattle and sheep. The name "sneezeweed" may actually come from observation of Native American's use of snuff made from this plant.

Helenium

Helenium autumnale

sneezeweed [Blooms: Aug-Oct]

Woodland sunflower flower stalks tend to be hairier than the stem. The flowerheads are 1.5-3" across with 8-15 ray florets with yellow petals (with a tiny notch at the tip) and over 40 yellow, tubular disc florets with five spreading apical lobes. Flower bracts cup the back of the flowerhead in four series, light green, pointed, hairy along their margins, and typically recurved. Only the disc florets are fertile; the ray florets are sterile. Woodland sunflowers can be recognized by their nearly-sessile or sessile, opposite, leaves and broad leaf bases.

Helianthus

Helianthus divaricatus

woodland sunflower [Blooms: Jul-Oct]

Sawtooth sunflower flowerheads are 2.5-4" across with 10-20 bright yellow ray florets and over 100 tubular golden-yellow disc florets with five protruding brown anthers fused around a yellow style with a bifurcated stigma. Behind the flowers are multiple layers of spreading bracts that are pointed with hairy margins, especially near their base. Only the disc florets are fertile; the ray florets are sterile. (This is true throughout the genus Helianthus, although this situation seems more understandable (to me) than the the situation in the genus Silphium, where the opposite is true.) Sawtooth sunflowers can be distinguished from other Helianthus spp. by their hairless, reddish-purple stems; the arching leaves with a longitudinal fold are also characteristic but not definitive.

Helianthus

Helianthus grosseserratus

sawtooth sunflower [Blooms: Jul-Sep]