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Winged pigweed flowers are whitish-green, sessile, and 1/16" across; the flowers have five inward-curving sepals that cover the ovaries, five stamens, and a flattened ovary with 2-3 styles. Flowers may contain only a pistil or both a pistil and stamens; if the latter, the creamy-yellow anthers are prominent.

Cycloloma

Cycloloma atriplicifolium

winged pigweed [Blooms: Jul-Aug]

White prairie-clover produces 1-3" long spikes of flowers and flower buds which open progressively from the base of the spike to the tip. Individual flowers are tiny (about 1/4" across), pea-like, white, with five petals (one much larger than the other four); five white stamens with pale yellow anthers protrude beyond the edge of the flowers.

Dalea

Dalea candida

white prairie-clover [Blooms: Jun-Jul]

At the apex of a purple prairie-clover stem is a 1-2.5" long spike of flowers and flower buds which open progressively from the base of the spike to the tip. Individual flowers are tiny (1/4" across), pea-like, deep magenta in color, with five purple petals (one much larger than the other four). Five stamens with golden anthers protrude beyond the edge of the flowers.

Dalea

Dalea purpurea

purple prairie-clover [Blooms: Jun-Aug]

Shrubby cinquefoil flowers are 3/4-1.5" across, bright yellow, with petals that are circular and overlap, 15-20 stamens with golden anthers, and numerous pistils clumped in the center. The five sepals are largely hidden behind the petals; only the sepal's tips protrude.

Dasiphora

Dasiphora fruticosa

shrubby cinquefoil [Blooms: May-Jul]

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]

Queen Anne's lace is probably the most widely known exotic, a plant introduced from Europe. The inflorescences are the familiar flat compound umbels 2-5" across made up of hundreds of tiny flowers; beneath the umbel are bracts up to 2.5" long, very narrow, and superficially pinnate with three or more lobes. Individual flowers are <1/8" across, with five white petals, a reddish ovary topped by two white styles, and five white stamens. Flowers near the edge of umbels are often asymmetrical, with the petals towards the free edge larger. Not uncommonly, a single flower in the center of the compound umbel has reddish-purple to nearly black petals. The fruit is a ribbed seed with long stiff hairs along the ribs; the entire umbel closes over the immature fruits like a fist to protect them as they mature.

Daucus

Daucus carota

Queen Anne's lace [Blooms: Jun-Aug]

Decodon verticillatus

Decodon

Decodon verticillatus

swamp loosestrife [Blooms: Jul-Aug]

Illinois bundleflower flowerheads are about 1/2" across; they contain about 50 florets with five minute (1 mm long) petals, a single style, and five stamens with yellow anthers. The overall appearance is of a greenish-white fuzzy pincushion.

Desmanthus

Desmanthus illinoensis

Illinois bundleflower [Blooms: Jun-Aug]

Pointed-leaf tick-trefoil flowers are a little over 1/4" long, pea-like, with four (or five) rose-pink petals — a banner (parallel to the other petals), two lateral wings, and a tube-like keel formed from either a single petal folded lengthwise or two fused petals (opinions differ). Emerging from between the wings and keel is a stout, upward-curved, white tube that bears a single style and several stamens at its tip.

Desmodium

Desmodium glutinosum

pointed-leaf tick-trefoil [Blooms: Jun-Sep]

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]

Sweet-William's (Dianthus barbatus) inflorescence, located at the apex of the stem, is a flat-topped or slightly domed cyme of 5-30 flowers. Individual flowers are about an inch across consisting of a tubular calyx about 3/8" long with five sharply triangular lobes; five broad, variously colored petals that have very narrow bases ("clawed") and a toothed or fringed outer edge; 10 stamens with purplish anthers (which often fall off the filament); and two styles. Fertilized flowers produce oval to cylindrical seed capsules about 1/2" long with four teeth around the open end. The flowers of Sweet-William are edible. Sweet-William prefers deep, organic-rich, well drained soils in full sun, preferably in a disturbed site. The sweet William plants growing in Jackson Park are undoubtedly escapees from a nearby garden (a rare event). The only other Dianthus spp. in Jackson Park is Deptford pink (Dianthus armeria), also a perennial exotic. The two species are similar in having fringed petals and a terminal inflorescence, but otherwise you would never confuse them; Deptford pink is a subtle beauty, sweet William shouts for joy.

Dianthus

Dianthus barbatus

sweet-William [Blooms: Jun-Jul]

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]

Prairie cinquefoil (aka, tall cinquefoil) flowers are about 3/4" across and have white to cream-colored petals, narrowest at the base; the sepals are light green and as long or longer than petals, tapering to a sharp tip; about 20 bright golden-yellow stamens and anthers; and the pistils in the center of the flower also bright golden-yellow. Prairie cinquefoil and sulfur cinquefoil are easy to confuse, but flowers of prairie cinquefoil are cream colored, not yellow and the leaves are pinnately compound, not and palmate.

Drymocallis

Drymocallis arguta

prairie cinquefoil [Blooms: Jun-Jul]

Mock strawberry (aka, Indian strawberry) flowers are borne on a single flower stalk. Flowers are 1/2-3/4" across with five sharply-pointed, triangular green sepals as long as the petals and covered with long hairs on their outer surfaces; five bright-yellow petals wider at the tip than the base; 15-25 stamens with bright yellow anthers; and a central yellow receptacle with numerous pistils covering its surface. Just below the sepals are five small bracts (leaves), each with three pointed lobes at its tip; these persist and are present below the sepals on the fruit. The fruit is a bright-red expanded receptacle ~1/2" in diameter, globose or ovoid, that is nestled in the sepals; bright red seeds project from the fruit's surface like pointed bumps. The fruit is edible but tasteless. The word "Indian" in the common name refers to the country "India" rather than Native Americans; "Indian" strawberry was introduced from Asia. The five small bracts (leaves) just below the sepals in mock strawberry, each with three pointed lobes at its tip, are present in both the flowers and the berries and are a diagnostic character of mock strawberry.

Duchesnea

Duchesnea indica

mock strawberry [Blooms: Apr-Sep]

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]

Storksbill flowers occur in clusters of 4-8. Each flower is 1/2" across with five hairy, green, widely-spreading sepals; five purplish or pink petals; five fertile stamens with reddish-orange anthers; and five fused pistils, separate at the tips of the styles where five purple stigmas in a star-shape are prominant. The fruit is a long, narrow awl-shaped "storksbill" up to 1.5" long whose base is the mature seeds (usually five) and whose long "bill" consists of the laterally joined awns (long bristle-like structures) of the seeds. The seeds are explosively dispersed when the "storksbill" splits longitudinally into five separate awns; the attached seeds are flung away from each other (at 4 meters/sec). The attached awns also allow each seed to self-bury. Storksbill is native to the Mediterranean; it was introduced to North America in the 18th century and is now naturalized.

Erodium

Erodium cicutarium

storksbill [Blooms: Apr-Jun]

Rattlesnake master inflorescences consist of whitish-green spiky balls 1/2-1" across made up of small florets enclosed by prickly bracts; the florets have five short, rounded petals, five stamens, and a long, divided white pistil that protrudes well beyond the edge of the floret. Note that, if you're bitten by a rattlesnake, this plant will be of no use to you whatsoever.

Eryngium

Eryngium yuccifolium

rattlesnake master [Jun-Sep]

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]