Common vetch makes high quality hay! But “bloat is a risk.” I think there are about three kinds of vetch at Centennial. We’ll see. Common vetch has been part of the human diet — as evidenced by carbonized remains at early Neolithic sites in Syria, Turkey, and several other countries. Pea family.
Common Vetch (Vicia sativa)
Kudos to A.F. Donna for spotting this at Wilson Mountain. There is an area just full of these low shrubs all hung with pink blossoms. Pea family. Native to the southeastern U.S…. so these have somehow escaped and migrated northward.
Bristly Locust (Robinia hispida)
Used for a long list of medicinal purposes… Native to Europe, Western Asia and northwest Africa. Bean family.
Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) (pratense is Latin for “found in meadows.”)
Alert Flowerophile Donna has mentioned how sometimes my photos look so much better than the weedy little plant we spot out in the field. It’s true, these are kind of glamour shots for weeds. For instance, I would ordinarily yank this right out of my yard… but it’s rather nice on a macro level… the flowers are about a half inch wide.
Common Fleabane (Erigeron philadelphicus)
Part of my amazing walk at Noanet. “Besides the showy flowers that are insect-pollinated, there are also inconspicuous flowers that are borne underground and which self-fertilize without opening.”-US Forest Service ! Native. Milkwort family.
Fringed Polygala, Gaywings, Flowering Wintergreen (Polygala paucifolia)
This looks a lot like the Morrow Honeysuckle, but it’s pink, found on Fisher Street in Needham. It’s an exotic invasive bush honeysuckle. Evidently all native honeysuckle species are vines. This variety was introduced to North America as an ornamental in 1752. (I wonder what the story is there.)
Tartarian Honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica)
These are so amazing looking, I decided to appreciate them with three pictures.This blooms in my yard every year. In all the time we’ve lived here (17 years), it’s never spread beyond this one little plant. Family: Buttercup (Ranunculaceae). Native. Flowers April to July.
Good fact from illinoiswildflowers.info: “Because the foliage is toxic, it is little bothered by mammalian herbivores.”
Wild Red Columbine, Rock Bells (Aquilegia canadensis)
I’ve realized we have at least two kinds of blueberry plants around here. There are the small (lowbush) ones which are very common in our woods, and now I’ve noticed we also have highbush blueberries — the bushes are about 6 feet tall. This is the kind that was used to create cultivated blueberries. They’re native. The photos above (both the highbush variety) were taken one day apart — the top one is at Centennial in the shade, and the bottom one is at the Town Forest in a sunny previously burned area.
Northern Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum)
Wild Crabs are just coming into bloom at Centennial.
Wild Crab Apple Tree (Malus coronaria)
| “Linnaeus probably never saw more than a dried specimen, but he named this tree coronaria, “fit for crowns and garlands.”” |
