Yellow flowers are abundant in the summer while some of the rarest flowers are purple. Here are four rare plants I’ve never seen.

Dianne Machesney visited Lynx Prairie in Adams County, Ohio in late July to see scaly blazing star (Liatris squarrosa), above. It doesn’t occur in Pennsylvania though we have it’s cousin dense blazing star (Liatris spicata) at Jennings Prairie.  The two plants differ in this way: “Scaly” flowers are clustered at the tip, “dense” flowers coat the long spike.

Lynx Prairie is also famous for these rarities shown left-to-right below: American bluehearts (Buchnera americana), crane fly orchid (Tipularia discolor) and crested coralroot (Hexalectris spicata).

Lynx Prairie in Shawnee State Forest is a great place to find rare flowers in a purple theme.

(photos by Dianne Machesney)

Moth mullein (Verbascum blattaria) is blooming now in western Pennsylvania. Though it’s closely related to common mullein it hardly looks alike.

This biennial in the Figwort Family (Scrophulariaceae) grows a rosette of basal leaves in its first year, then sprouts a flower stalk that grows 1.5 to 3 feet tall in year two.  Its white or yellow flowers bloom from bottom to top.

Native to Eurasia and Africa, moth mullein was first noticed in Pennsylvania in 1818.  It’s not invasive in Pennsylvania but is listed as a noxious weed in Colorado.

Look for moth mullein in waste places and pastures.  It’s not named for what it does, but for what it looks like: A flower that resembles a moth.

(photo by Kate St. John)

In late June the spring flowers are gone and summer flowers haven’t bloomed yet.  I find it hard to identify plants without flowers but this one was rather easy.

The leaves are perfoliate and alternate on the stem.  The six-sided fruit indicates the flower had six parts. The fruit stem pierces the leaf.

Here’s a plant with these characteristics. Large-flowered bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora) has six petals and the stems pierce the leaves.

In late June bellwort fruit is still puffy looking.  Eventually it will shrink into three lobes.  Click here to see.

Right now the fruit is in transition.

(photos by Kate St. John)

In the spring I often see large pleated leaves in the same damp places where skunk cabbage grows. For years I didn’t know what they were and I was lazy.  I couldn’t see any flowers and I wouldn’t wade into the swamp to key it out with my Newcomb’s Guide.

This week Dianne Machesney put me straight. This is false hellebore (Veratrum viride).

False hellebore is blooming this month and now I know why I never saw the flowers from a distance.  They’re completely green!  Six hairy green tepals (petal-sepals) and six stamens with yellow anthers.

The leaves spiral up the stem. The entire plant, up to six feet tall, resembles hellebore so it’s called false hellebore.

Like all plants in the Veratrum genus viride is highly poisonous.  Deer leave it alone but cattle are sometimes fooled.

Amazingly, some Native American tribes used it as an initiation test. Like Arthur pulling the sword from the stone, candidates to be the next leader would ingest false hellebore. According to Wikipedia, the one to start vomiting last would become the new leader.  (Ick!)

Look for false hellebore’s flowers from May to July. After it blooms, the leaves fade.

(photos by Dianne Machesney)

Here are two flowers that couldn’t be more different but they have the same common name: Goat’s Beard.

The Goat’s Beard flower above is Tragopogon dubius, introduced from Eurasia and named for its huge fluffy seed head.  It loves full sun and thrives in poor, disturbed soil so I often see it in former waste places planted with wildflower seed mix.  The flower above was at Lower Nine Mile Run on June 1.

The Goat’s Beard below, Aruncus dioicus, is a native of North America named for its fluffy male flowers. Four to six feet tall, it requires moist rich soil so I usually find it in the forest where a splash of sun breaks through.  Dianne Machesney found this one last week.

The flower in her photo doesn’t look very fluffy.  Here’s a possible explanation.

Aruncus dioicus is dioecius — some plants are male, others female.  The male flowers are the showy ones. This showy flower from Wikimedia Commons may be male.

Be careful if you tell a butterfly enthusiast that you’ve found Goat’s Beard.  The yellow-flowered Eurasian species is nothing to get excited about but Aruncus dioicus is the host plant for the rare Dusky Azure butterfly (Celastrina nigra).

Two “Goat’s Beards.”  Perhaps even more.

(photo credits:
yellow Goat’s Beard flower by Kate St. John
white Goat’s Beard flower by Dianne Machesney
fluffy white Goat’s Beard flower from Wikimedia Commons; click on the image to see the original)

April showers bring May flowers.  Here’s a taste of what’s blooming now in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Fire pink (Silene virginica) was blooming in Harrison Hills Park on May 12, above.  When I went back to take its picture someone had picked most of it.  🙁

Jack in the pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) is blooming in Schenley Park. At first you’ll notice it’s large three-part leaves, then you’ll see the pulpit where Jack lives.  Some of the pulpits have stripes inside, some do not.  Lift the lid to see.

Squawroot (Conopholis americana) isn’t green because it has no chlorophyll. Instead it coexists with oak trees, taking nourishment from their roots. Though it’s parasitic it rarely hurts the trees.  This month squawroot’s “bear corn” flowers are everywhere in Schenley Park.

Squawroot, Schenley Park, 18 May 2018 (photo by Kate St. John)

Horse chestnuts (Aesculus hippocastanum), an imported tree, are blooming too. Did you know the flowers are color coded for bees?    After pollination they’ll produce the nuts that we call “buckeyes.”  It’s a confusing name! Click here for the difference between a chestnut, a horse chestnut and our native Ohio buckeye.

Get outdoors and see what’s blooming in late May.

(photos by Kate St. John)