Another tall plant in the Centennial meadows. Like the other plants with tick in their name, this has barbed seeds that attach to passing creatures for distribution. Aster family.
Common Beggarticks (Bidens frondosa)
Common Beggarticks
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Category Archives: Centennial Park, Wellesley MA
Pigweed
I realize this is a lot of not very pretty pictures in a row. Pigweed, ragweed and mugwort are the main big bushy plants near the parking lot at Centennial. They look kind of pretty really, feathery and tall. The top two pics are pigweed, and the last photo shows pigweed in the front, ragweed on the left, and mugwort behind. Pigweed is cultivated in Asia as a food crop for people and livestock. Can be up to 9 feet tall. Wikipedia: “archeologists analysing carbonized plant remains found in storage pits and ovens at Iron Age and Roman sites in Europe have found its seeds mixed with conventional grains and even inside the stomachs of Danish bog bodies.” Native to Europe but widely distributed. Amaranthaceae family.
Pigweed, Lamb’s Quarters, Goosefoot (Chenopodium album)
Ragweed
This is the plant that you hear about because it’s a major cause of hay fever. I never knew what it looked like, and now that I know, I see it is growing like a house afire all over the meadows at Centennial. Up to 6 feet tall. Aster family. Native.
Common Ragweed, Bitterweed, Roman Wormwood, Stammerwort (Ambrosia artemisiifolia)
Common Mugwort
A tall bushy, silvery plant that is growing in all the open meadows now. It’s prominent around the lower meadow at Centennial (along with pigweed and ragweed). The leaves remind me of rosemary. They’re green above and silvery underneath, aromatic. Mugwort has been used to flavor drinks since the Iron Age. (How do they know that?) Also used in food, herbal medicine, for smoking, for magical protection against evil spirits and wild animals, and to repel moths from gardens. Roman soldiers lined their sandals with mugwort to ward off fatigue. Mugwort pollen is a major source of hay fever. Native to Europe, Asia, Africa and Alaska.
Common Mugwort, Common Wormwood (Artemisia vulgaris)
Sulphur Shelf
The procession of new flowers has slowed, but a little rain has brought out lots of fungus. Today we noticed this ruffly specimen. It’s edible, and not the same as another edible mushroom I posted, Hen-of-the-woods. Can be prepared like chicken, but only eat young fresh ones! And start with just a little! Psh.
Sulphur Shelf, Chicken-of-the-woods (Laetiporus sulphureus)
Live Forever
As we approach the end of summer, it was great to get this surprise– a really showy new flower. It looks a lot like purple milkweed, but has distinctive succulent leaves that are very regular and same-sized all the way up the stalks. An unusual characteristic: the leaves can be alternate or opposite. It’s named Live Forever because it’s very persistent and can grow from any small bit. We saw just a couple of plants in this whole field of other flowers– I wonder if this is the beginning of a big colony.
It has several intriguing common names that come from this: put the leaf in your mouth until it’s soft, and when the membranes are sufficiently loosened, you can inflate the leaf like a little balloon. Crassulaceae (Stonecrop) family. Native to Europe.
Live Forever, Witch’s Moneybags, Midsummer-Men, Orpine, Aaron’s Rod, Pudding-bag Plant (Sedum purpureum)
White Wood Aster
Finding this little aster in most of the woods here. It’s one of the few plants blooming in the dry shade at this late time in the season. Aster family. Native to eastern North America.
White Wood Aster (Eurybia divaricata)
Rabbit-foot Clover
A furry little legume. Ag scientists are currently working on genetic modifications (adding one gene from this clover to common white clover) to make it better for grazing (to decrease methane emissions!). Fabaceae family. Native to Europe and Asia.
Rabbit-foot Clover, Haresfoot Clover, Stone Clover (Trifolium arvense)
Agrimony
Spikes of yellow flowers and toothed divided leaves with 5 leaflets. This is one of those herbs with a long recorded history of medicinal use, from ancient Greece through the Middle Ages in Europe, and was prescribed for ailments on this continent into the 19th century. A bit of folklore: if you hold it over someone’s head, it will induce a deep sleep until you take it away… Rose family. Native.
Agrimony (Agrimonia)
Bonus photos for A.F. Marilyn, who likes a little context with her wildflowers. This park has 6 meadows with bits of woods separating them (for the most part), and they all serve up different flora. Here is one of them:
Toward the end of the hike, there’s a little creek. It’s running low because it’s such a dry hot summer (about 95 during this walk), but here is Lucy getting all the satisfaction she can from an inch of water:
Oswego Tea
A garden plant escaped from cultivation in New England. Growing at Centennial out in the poison ivy; I shot this in Dover Center. Hummingbird favorite. Mint family.
Oswego Tea, Bee Balm, Monarda, Bergamot (Monarda didyma)