This week, a quick run through three flowering plant families that may be mostly unfamiliar and one that is everywhere … The object? To make it easier to know what you are looking at when you encounter these plants whilst out walking.
Family Polygonaceae - Buckwheats/Knotweeds
Not very showy and easy to pass by. A diverse family of grass-like plants, often with pink-tinged flowering spikes. There are a surprising number of Smartweed species growing in unattended crevices between rocks along the shoreline in Fritz Park down the road from us. Characteristically, many species have multiple swollen nodes along the length of their stems. Examples that should be easy to see are Spotted Lady’s Thumb (Persicaria maculosa), Pale Smartweed (Persicaria lapathifolia) and Longroot Smartweed (Persicaria amphibia var. emersa)
Family Caryophyllaceae
This huge family of over 2000 species will be familiar to many, as it includes the horticultural Pink and Carnation species. In the wild, local representatives are a little more discrete - for example its includes Mouse-ear Chickweed (Cerastium fontanum).
The largest group of species is the genus Silene, known commonly as Campion. An often seen representative that really likes corners of gardens being the Bladder Campion (Silene vulgaris) and White Campion (Silene latifolia).
Then there is the lovely little white, ten-petalled Lesser Stitchwort (Stellaria graminea) which has been seen nearby, plus its pink coloured relative, the Deptford Pink (Dianthus armeria)
Family Amaranthaceae
Another plant family with over 2000 species that is represented here in the wild by Common Lambsquarters (Chenopodium album) and Redroot Amaranth (Amaranthus retroflexus) and probably some more species. You could find Redroot Pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus)
The family also includes plants you will know well such as Spinach, Beetroot, Sugar Beet and Chard, are used as vegetables. There is also fodder beet or Mangelwurzel, and sugar beet. The seeds of Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) are well known but not found nearby.
Family Asteraceae - Daisies/Sunflowers/Asters
This family is huge - not just 900 species to contend with, but 900+ genera … that’s a tremendous amount of variation to get to grips with but I will try to keep it simple. The family used to be known as the Compositae because a characteristic common to all the plants in the family is that what at first sight look like fairly simple flowers are actually a composition/combination of many, many small flowers clustered together. For example, look at a sunflower. As we all know the flowers produce many, many seeds but each of those seeds is actually the product of just one individual flower and it is all those tiny flowers together that make up the flower of the well known sunflower. Likewise for asters, daisies, chrysanthemum, chicory and all the other members of the family. One description I came across notes that “When the seeds are ripe and fall away, you are left with a pitted disk that looks strikingly like a little garden plot where all the tiny flowers were planted. “
North American members of the Asteracea can be separated thus:
The Chicory group (sub-family) have flowers that look reminiscent of dandelions. The ray flowers typically overlap all the way to the center. The petals have strap-like, parallel edges with squared-off ends. The stems and leaves of all species have milky juice, and all are edible, but bitter. There are several species of native dandelions in North America, but the common dandelion found in most lawns is really an import from Eurasia. Perhaps the most attractive member of this group and one that grows very commonly in this area is the Blue flowered Chicory (Cichorium intybus) itself, another Eurasian species.
This group also includes the many ostensibly similar species of flowers grouped as “Goldenrod” - for example, look for Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) and Tall Goldenrod (Solidago altissima)
Then there are the flowers belonging to the Thistle/Artichoke subfamily. Generally, these are spiny, bristly plants, whose flowerheads are wrapped in multiple layers of overlapping bracts with bristly points - in fact just like the artichoke you eat. Less desirable examples are Lesser Burdock (Arctium minus) and Greater Burdock (Arctium lappa) which are highly invasive European species that are hard to control. They produce seed heads with fine, minute bristles on one end that that attach to passing fur and clothing. These can be seriously irritating to humans or other mammals if exposed to eyes, skin, or the respiratory tract.
Thirdly, there are the true Asters themselves. These flowers are highly diverse but mostly have radiate style heads with some species that are discoid to confuse matters. They contain three lobed ray florets. In this area you might encounter obvious asters such as New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) and Common Blue Wood Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium), Philadelphia Fleabane (Erigeron philadelphicus), Horseweed (Erigeron canadensis), Annual Fleabane (Erigeron annuus) and some less obvious flowers like Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) and Field Pussytoes (Antennaria spp.) which latter is, to the best of my knowledge, a local rarity and only to be found in the Ste-Anne cemetery in the field between the graves and the highway.
Even gardeners who are not favourable towards native plantings (aka ‘weeds’) will welcome the Echinacea flowers and often pay good money for choice varieties. The basic, native form is Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). All of these are flowers that is is important to allow to stand after flowering so that birds can have access to the nutritious seeds.
There are a number species of this family listed in the linked website. They are pretty well all delightful and all to be welcomed into your garden if you choose to “go native”. Look out for Common Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), Oxeye Daisy - non-native but common (Leucanthemum vulgare), Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium), Shaggy Soldier (Galinsoga quadriradiata) and Devil’s Beggarticks (Bidens frondosa).
I would have identified the pics of Oxeyed Daisy and Feverfew for each other. Hmm? :-)