Category Archives: Location

Pigweed

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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

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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

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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)

Sumac is the first to change

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A couple of weeks ago, the trees were green, but I noticed that the sumac was sporting a few red leaves… (Lucy’s white feet are in the background of that shot.) But now there is no denying that the leaves are changing. Lots of yellow leaves everywhere.

Fernleaf False Foxglove

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Even as most of the wildflowers are looking toasted or wilted, I’m still coming across new and unfamiliar flowers. These blossoms are not so pretty, but the buds are very distinctive and beautiful. False foxgloves are partially parasitic on oak trees, and therefore always grow near oaks. Figwort family. Native.

Fernleaf False Foxglove (Aureolaria pedicularia)

Camouflage

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Lucy and I were walking in the woods not on a trail when something cold brushed past my leg. I kept the shrieking to a minimum and saw this toad, about the size of my fist, so well camouflaged that I never would have seen it had it not tapped me on the shoulder. So to speak. Even the stripe on its back looks like a bit of grass.

Their tadpoles are very small, solid black, and reach adulthood in 30-40 days, and then become mostly terrestrial. Their skin produces a toxic chemical that discourages fish from eating them.

American Toad (Bufo Americanus)

Buckwheat

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At the Dover Farm, I was wading out into the field to pick some cherry tomatoes, and noticed this plant with distinctive arrow-shaped leaves. It’s Buckwheat! Cultivated as a crop, but this one is an escapee. Buckwheat has been grown as a crop in the U.S. since colonial times for livestock feed and for flour. Also a honey crop (used to supply nectar for bees) and a smother crop (a quick germinator that creates a dense leaf canopy to smother weeds).

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum sagittatum)

Bonus picture to contrast with the farm: we were just in Manhattan. Drive-by shot of a grocery store in the Washington Heights neighborhood that is open to the sidewalk. It’s the sort of colorful outdoor display where you expect produce… but it’s all cans.

Nodding Smartweed

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Similar to Lady’s Thumb but a more extravagant outsized version. 1 to 6 feet tall. A big patch of them at the Dover Farm. Buckwheat family. Can be pink, white or purple.

Nodding Smartweed, Pale Smartweed, Dock-leaved Smartweed (Polygonum lapathifolium)

Pink Knotweed

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There is a little weed charmingly called Lady’s Thumb, which is very common and looks a lot like this. It took me a while to notice that all these varieties of smartweeds and knotweeds are NOT Lady’s Thumb. There are about 35 varieties in this area. This one is a paler pink. Also, Lady’s Thumb has a dark smudge on the leaves. Buckwheat family. Native.

Pink Knotweed (Polygonum pensylvanicum)

Pale-spiked Lobelia

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Came up uninvited with a potted tomato plant. Beautiful form. Contains a toxic white sap, so mostly avoided by mammals, but visited by insects. Native perennial. Bellflower family.

Pale-spiked Lobelia (Lobelia spicata)