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Category: Wildflowers

Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens)

Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens)

Like partridge berry (Mitchella repens), pipsissewa (Chimaphila umbellata), and spotted wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata), wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) is a low-growing, glossy-leaved perennial common to our area. With numerous common names, wintergreen could easily be the poster child for why Latin names are so important. This small red-berried plant is also called teaberry, checkerberry, deerberry and boxberry, among other things. The plant is shade tolerant, but berries are more common on wintergreen plants growing in clearings. Also, although the plant is considered…

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Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens)

Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens)

Generally speaking, in the plant world, one flower will produce one fruit. Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens) is one of the two exceptions. Partridgeberry, along with only one other species of plant native to Japan, are sometimes referred to as “twinberries” because each fruit is the product of two adjacent flowers. In June, pairs of fuzzy four-petaled white or pink flowers bloom at the end of each stem. Each pair of flowers is comprised of one with a tall pistil and short…

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Annual Honesty (Lunaria annua)

Annual Honesty (Lunaria annua)

Although not nearly as showy this time of year, the remnant membranes from the seed pods are enough to identify annual honesty (Lunaria annua), which is also sometimes called money plant. Annual honesty is native to eastern Europe and western Asia. It was widely planted in North American gardens and over time has escaped and naturalized in many parts of the U. S. and southern Canada. It can now commonly be found throughout much of Massachusetts. In the spring, the…

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Wildflower Wednesday: Seaside Goldenrod

Wildflower Wednesday: Seaside Goldenrod

Winter doesn’t mean the end of wildflower identification. Many plants retain easily identifiable seed pods and other features. Although the late summer display of its vibrant yellow flower clusters is over, seaside goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens) is no less interesting in December. Seaside goldenrod is a native perennial aptly named as it is commonly found in dunes and at the edges of salt marshes. It is fairly well adapted to drought conditions, allowing it to survive in the dry, sandy dunes….

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Spotted Knapweed (Centaurea stoebe)

Spotted Knapweed (Centaurea stoebe)

Many plants, particularly herbaceous ones, are most easily identifiable when in flower. As we move further into the cold season, and flowers (and many leaves) are essentially absent, it seems like herbaceous plant identification should be impossible. While it can be tricky, many plants have such distinctive seed heads or stalks, that they are identifiable well into the winter. While it’s possible to identify many herbaceous species through their winter characteristics alone, I find that now is one of the…

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Wildflower Wednesday: New England Blazing Star

Wildflower Wednesday: New England Blazing Star

The New England Blazing Star (Liatris scariosa var. novae-angliae), also known as the Northern Blazing Star, is the only native Liatris in Massachusetts. It is endemic to the northeastern United States and is only known to exist in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, and prefers dry, sandy grasslands, barrens and clearings. However, because even within these states it is considered rare (it is listed under the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act as a species of…

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Nature Journaling: Mashpee River

Nature Journaling: Mashpee River

I spent some time on sitting along the bank of the Mashpee River today, enjoying the weather and studying some of the wildflowers growing at the river’s edge. There are multiple access points and conservation areas along the Mashpee River (click here to view the Town of Mashpee’s trails webpage). I accessed the river this morning through the Fitch Conservation Area, managed jointly by the Town of Mashpee and the Trustees of Reservations. While many non-aster wildflower species are no…

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Nature Journaling: Red Brook

Nature Journaling: Red Brook

This morning I spent a couple hours observing the plants, birds and insects along the banks of Red Brook in the Lyman Reserve in Plymouth. Normally, when I see something interesting I take a picture or two and continue on my walk, but today I took the extra time to sit and journal my observations. I spent most of my time with two plants in particular: Monkey flower (Mimulus ringens) and common blackberry (Rubus allegheniensis). The first, monkey flower, which…

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Wildflower Wednesday: Swamp Rose Mallow

Wildflower Wednesday: Swamp Rose Mallow

Last weekend, while exploring the John H. Chafee Nature Preserve in Rhode Island, I encountered a large tropical-looking flower. It seemed out of place in a New England marsh.  However, the first specimen I noticed was tucked so far back in the vegetation that there was no way for me to get close enough to identify it. I only knew that it was big and pink. Luckily, slightly further along the edge of the marsh was another patch of this…

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Downy Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera pubescens)

Downy Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera pubescens)

The downy rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera pubescens) is one of eastern North America’s native orchid species. It occurs in the entire eastern half of the U.S. and Canada from Ontario and Quebec south to Oklahoma, Mississippi and Florida. Commonly found growing in dry to moist upland forests, the downy rattlesnake plantain has a circular arrangement of leaves close to the ground, called a basal rosette, and a single flowering stalk that rises up from the center. The green oval leaves are…

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