View Wildflowers in Tennessee!

For more wildflower pictures take a look at my friends site:

http://wallacegeo.blogspot.com

George has a passion for photography and has some beautiful shots. ENJOY!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Spatterdock, Cow Lily


Spatterdock is a large plant whose leaves are often floating, however, submersed and emersed leaves are common.  Spatterdock commonly occurs in ponds, lakes and sluggish streams and blooms from spring to summer.  Spatterdock has large heart-shaped leaves, usually with wavy margins.  Spatterdock floating leaves are attached to long, stout stems which arise from large, spongy rhizomes.  Its submersed leaves are very thin, attached at the bottom rhizomes.  Spatterdock flowers are yellow and 'half-opened" at or above the water surface. 

This picture was taken while kayaking on the Weikwa River.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Pikerelweed

When I was hiking down this path, which is the Blue Trail in Wekiwa, I came across this little swampy stream.

 It was filled with Pickerelweed, which is an aquatic herb with a creeping, submerged rhizome and violet-blue flower spikes extending above water.  It flowers between June and November and is found in freshwater marshes and edges of ponds, lakes, and strams, such as the one in the picture.  The seeds can be eaten like nuts and the young leaves cooked as greens.  Deer also feed on these plants.  It also attracts butterflies.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Lanceleaf Tickseed,(Aster family) Coreopsis crassifolia

Lance-leaf tickseed grows in small clumps but forms extensive colonies.  It s 1-2 1/2 feet tall and has leaves 3-4 inches long, opposite, sometimes alternate near the top where the leaves are fewer.  some of the leaves are deeply cut, almost forming 3 leaflets.  flower heads are yellow, 1-1 1/2 inches across.  The yellow center or disk flowers stand out distinctly from the ray flowers, which appear to be attached just below them.  Ray flowers are 4-lobed.  the yellow, daisy-like flowers occur singly atop long, naked peduncles.  This native species has branching stems at base and often forms sizable colonies along roadsides and in old fields.

 I took these pictures next to Sand Lake on the northwest side of Wekiwa State Park.

Friday, June 17, 2011

MIMOSA NUTTALLII, SCHRANKIA UNCINATA also know as Sensitive Briar, Bashful Briar and Cat's Claw

Mimosa nuttallii, Schrankia uncinata, is also known as Sensitive Briar, Nuttall's Sensitive Briar, Nuttall's Sensitive-briar, and Bashful Briar due to its sensitive leaflets which fold when touched and and aptly named Devil's Shoestrings and Cat's claw because of its abundantly barbed stems.  the ball-shaped magenta-pink flower heads of Sensitive briar resemble miniature firework explosions and bloom on sprawling or trailing 4 feet long stems.  Sensitve Briar will grow best in dry to average soil and full sun on a bank , hanging over a wall, or naturalized in a prairie meadow.  It occurs naturally on glades, prairies, savannas, and roadsides.

I shot this picture on the Orange Trail in Wekiwa River Basin.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Purple Passionflower

The purple Passion flower is a climbing trailing vine.  It flowers from June -September.  This unusual plant is widely distributed in the south, especially from Florida to Texas.  Its fruit is sometime called maypop.  Its name relates to the resemblance of the flower parts to aspects of the Crucificion story:  the ten petal like parts represent the disciples, excluding Peter and Judas; the 5 stamens, the wounds Jesus received; the knob-like stigmas, the nails; and the fringed corona, the crown of thorns.

This picture was taken down the retreat road in Wekiwa  Park.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Bull Thistle


Bull thistle is a very prickly plant with a spiny-winged stem and large, rose-purple, rayless flower heads surrounded by spiny, yellow-tipped bracts.  It flowers between June-September and can be found throughout North America, except the far North. 
While in northeast Florida, walking down the historical old brick section  of A1A....I came acrossa sandy field covered in Bull Thistle....and to add to the beauty, there were hundreds of butterflys....one of the most beautiful sites I have seen

Arrowhead;Wapato

I spotted this tall stalk rsing from the waters of Lake county in the well hidden Boulay Preserve area.  It bears white flowers in whorls of 3.  It is closely related to Water Plantain,  Edible tubers can be found beneath the muck and Native Americans are said to have opened muskrat houses to get at their cache of tubers!

American Beauty Berry

 
 
The American beautyberry has colorful berries that last long into winter and are eaten by a variety of wildlife. Beautyberry has proven to be an attractive plant for wildlife within its native range.
Birds - including robins, catbirds, cardinals, mockingbirds, brown thrashers, finches and towhees - are favorite consumers of both the fresh berries and shriveled raisins. The fruit is heavily used by white-tailed deer and will be eaten well into late November.

Prickly Pear

I found this Prickly Pear off the trail in Wekiwa State Park in Apopka in the middle of a restoration area.  It is a clump forming cactus bearing few yellow flowers, often with reddish centers.  It blooms from May-August in sandy areas and open, rocky sites.  This is a native plant, the only cactus widespread in the eastern United States.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Hibiscus; Rose Mallow

The rose mallow is a large plant with big, showy, crimson flowers....I find it often on the trails I hike from June to September...particularly in swamps and freshwater and brackish marshes.  It is sometimes cultivated and used in many yards in Florida.  It is certainly one of the loveliest of our native flowers!