Guest Blogger - Ernie Hunter

Ernie Hunter News :: A Few More Wildflowers
Posted: 2/22/2013 12:28:58 PM   Page Views 28   Comments 0
I think everyone can recognize a few wildflowers, so let's look at one easy one and then we can try to find a couple of somewhat harder ones. The Oxeye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) is probably the easiest. Remember "She Loves Me - She Loves Me Not" or making a daisy chain bracelet. Now we're telling our age. Look along roadsides, in pasture fields and hay fields and even in some peoples flower gardens. You'll see this startling white flower with the bright yellow center, or eye, growing on long stems, blowing in the breeze. This "eye" is composed of densely packed tiny disc florets. So, the yellow and white flower we see is actually hundreds of tiny flowers, making up the eye. Look closely and you might see a different insect, sitting motionless on the flower. A favourite spot for the Goldenrod Crab Spider - - Thomisidae - Misumena vatia. It can change it's colour to hide on it's surroundings and wait for unsuspecting prey. Nature is sneaky! Take a close look on your lawn, in June, and try to find a plant that looks like a wild strawberry, but with yellow blossoms. Now you've seen the Indian Strawberry (Duchesnea indica). Sometimes, these plants are confused with Common Cinquefoil (Potentilla simplex), which has five leaflets and not three like the strawberry. Cinquefoil, also, does not produce a berry. The berries from Indian Strawberry, while edible, do not have much taste. These plants are native to India and were naturalized to north America. Let's look along the edge of a thicket or bushy area in July. Do you see a bush with what looks like Maple tree leaves and pink or burgundy flowers that resemble roses. Perhaps you also see what looks like large flat raspberries growing on this bush. OK, now you've found a Purple Flowering Raspberry (Rubus odoratus) bush. It blooms from June to September and produces large, red, broad raspberry like fruit. The stems are thorn less and the fruit is rather tasteless, but, the birds love them. The flowers; however, are very pretty and smell gorgeous. The plants are also used for landscaping. The next time your out walking in the spring, summer or fall, try to see how many wildflowers you can recognize.