Bloomlist notes for July 19, 2018

    This week's bloomlist for Wildflower Island is at the end of the post, and Bonnie's
    pictures can be found HERE. Peterson names are used for consistency wherever possible,
    and comments and clarifications are welcome in the comments section.

We got a strong scent of what I think is Sweet Pepperbush at about #14 on the map, but all we could find were buds. Probably, though, it’ll be open all over the lake edges by the weekend.

The swans didn’t hiss at us today because they were way out in the lake, but maybe you’ll get a sample of their churlishness if they’re hanging around opposite #23 on the map.

Before I forget, we forgot to look for False Nettle today in that little spit after you pass through the rock wall (just after where the Wild Geraniums were). It was there last week, and was probably there today.

There's one spot where you can see Common Nightshade Solanum nigrum: facing the gatehouse but nowhere near it, on the left edge of the path where the row of Foamflowers live. Few blooms, but the little yellow beak is so cute. The picture on the left is very misleading.  The blooms are small.



There’s some long grass just as you pass into The Woods from the parking lot on the left of the path. It’s always been eaten, so I never really tried to identify it. But today I saw some florescences that really do look like Wheat, so I’ve written to Leigh to see if they planted some of that there, and also a little further along the path where there's a bunch of them roped off.


My grasses book says that the sometimes the little florets have bristles, and sometimes not. Ours do not, but GoBotany has pictures of both kinds. The description provided by Illinois Wildflowers exactly matches what we have here.


(Someone really cut back the Red-osier Dogwood on the boardwalk to the bird blind. Just saying....)










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Bloomlist notes for July 12th, 2018

    This week's bloomlist for Wildflower Island is at the end of the post, and Bonnie's
    pictures can be found HERE. Peterson names are used for consistency wherever possible,
    and comments and clarifications are welcome in the comments section.

Today was a kind of rest period for the Island, before the vibrant summer colors come in. It was also a particularly "white" day, though the Sweet Pepperbush buds weren't yet open or releasing their scent.

A couple of points ...
Here's Curled Dock in bloom, and according to the Illinois site, the blooming period lasts about a month. They turn dark brown as they turn more and more to seed.


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I think the plant that looks so much like Lady's-thumb, but whose small blooms are more white than pink is Pennsylvania Smartweed. Here's Bonnie's picture of it.

The generally missing dark thumbprint (chevrons) on the leaves is a significant characteristic of this Persicaria.

I would be more secure calling this the Pennsylvania Smartweed if I had remembered to check the leaf sheathes, which do not have hairs.

Below are pictures of the Lady's-thumb and Pennyslvania sheathes, along with the Peterson illustrations.

We welcome any clarifications or updates on these species.

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Bloomlist notes for July 4th, 2018

    This week's bloomlist for Wildflower Island is at the end of the post, and Bonnie's
    pictures can be found HERE. Peterson names are used for consistency wherever possible,
    and comments and clarifications are welcome in the comments section.

Surprising finds today, because the place looks green-green-green, but there actually were quite a few blooms, though some very small.

Maleberry near the Fringed Polygala. I don’t know if we missed it last week, or if more of it started to bloom today. Today we did locate a beautiful Sweetflag: don’t know if it was there last week and hidden, or if it just came up now. I think we probably missed it last week, as it looked mighty healthy.

Hellborine was a surprise today. Haven't seen that for years.

What we definitely did not mention last week in The Woods was the large stand of Greater Masterwort and Wild Bleeding-hearts halfway up to the rock ridge — and they’re still there. You can see a Lizard’s-tail through one of the holes in the bird blind, and it’s great to see so many Buttonbushes getting ready to bloom in spite of the beavers' war on shrubs the past three years.


Here’s something interesting ...  


The whitish flower (left) is the Pale Touch-me-not (Impatiens pallida) and on the right, the more common Spotted Touch-me-not (Impatiens capensis). One of the differences between them, apart from the obvious color, is the nectar spur. In the Pale, it's almost curlicue, in the Spotted, less curved and pointing forward.

The larger conical part of this flower is actually not a petal but one of the three sepals. It's characterized as “petaloid” because it looks like a petal.

There are four petals, the two at the top being smaller than the two lower ones. In the Pale species (below left), these lower ones are not fused, but they are in the Spotted (right), forming a nice landing spot for insects.

Those other two sepals sit behind the upper two petals, which can be seen most clearly in the Spotted blooms on the right.





On the Island, somewhat off the path was a garlic in pretty bloom. Bonnie got a picture of that one (below right), but we didn't think to take a picture of the other one because, honestly, we thought its bloom had passed. It was quite a straggly looking thing.



It turns out it may have also have been a garlic, because online descriptions show the first stage of flowering has the white flowers and “aerial bulbils” (like the picture on the right and below left as well), and in the 2nd stage (below right), the bulbils produce those long, strange-looking “tails" pointing upwards.

GoBotany calls this Crow Garlic, Allium vineale.  Wiki mentions that name, but files the entry under Wild Garlic.


Peterson and the Illinois Wildflower site call it Field Garlic, which is what we'll use in the bloomlist, following the rule to use Peterson names whenever possible. But, it's confusing, because many websites use that same name, Field Garlic, for Allium oleraceum.


Bottom line, I’m not sure which garlic we saw because we couldn’t get close enough.











In the Woods highlights on the bloomlist, I don’t usually repeat plants in the lake if I cite them in the WFI list (ex: Tuberous Water-lily, Swamp Smartweed, Buttonbush). But in some cases (e.g., Northeastern Rose), I've put these lake and lakeside plants in both lists, cause they’re so special wherever they are. 


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