If you know the names of the un-identified flowers below, please comment:
These are from a wet area in Billerica
Fringed gaywings
A variety of violet
Starflower (thanks for the name JimP and Geophile)
Wild geranium
White Trillium (next to a split-wedged rock)
These are from a hilltop and power lines in Burlington
A pretty flower, perhaps a kind of bean (pale corydalis according to Geophile) 
Maybe a black rasberry? 
Forget-me-nots (correction from Geophile, they are bluets) 
Bush Honeysuckle 
some kind of wild cherry or apple
and of course, a Lady Slipper (from Groton) 
17 comments :
I thought I left a comment last evening but it's not here. I'm pretty sure I could tell you the names of all but the dandelion-like ones.
Please do. I am particularly curious about the white "stars" which I see frequently.
The first question mark -- small whitish flowers -- are called Starflower. The next ones -- yellow flowers at the power lines -- are called Field Sow-Thistle.
Those are called starflowers, appropriately enough. The pink and yellow are pale corydalis, among my favorites. The berry flowers are blackberry, and the ones you call forget-me-nots are bluets, aka Quaker ladies, which an elderly Quaker lady friend of mine insists is an oxymoron. The flowering tree, judging by the pinkness of the buds, is an apple. A nice selection of species, and good on you for knowing the fringed gaywings, which people often mistake for an orchid.
As for the yellow, it resembles a two-flowered cynthia, but those are usually deep orange, so I can't call it.
I don't know about that, Jim. Field sow thistle is usually a pretty coarse plant with jagged-edge leaves. Certainly, though, it's a close relative. The dandelions, hawksbeards, hawk weeds, and sow thistles are a tough bunch to separate. My better wildflower books might yield an answer. I'll check tomorrow.
You have to look really close -- I zoomed in on the photo -- to see that the jagged leaves of the Sow-Thistle are indeed there. The flowers are mixed among tufts of grass in the photo and the actual leaves are hard to see.
It is wonderful you guys are so knowledge-able about such things.
If you want a real wildflower (and geological) treat, take a daytrip out to Bartholomew's Cobble in the Berkshires. It's the alkaline soil from the limestone (and marble) outcroppings that are millions of years old that the flora just love. When I was there one of the cobbles was covered with Columbine. Just stunning!
I am supposed to be looking for rock piles.
Oh, well, then stop by Monument Mountain on the way!
It has been speculated that native people took some plants we call wildflowers, like bloodroot for example, with them when they moved, making them a vector of the spread of some wild species they used. Not proven, but certainly not unlikely. Some herbs they used do travel and transplant very well. One person even pointed out that some are often found near rock piles, but my experience is that they're found in certain kinds of woodlands, with or without rock piles. So not completely without connection to your topic. [While still in elementary school, I would go out for country walks with my wildflower guide. It was really my first love.]
This is probably the best zoomed in view of the leaves of the sow thistle. menotomyjournal.com/leaves.jpg
Okay, Jim. *grin* If you want to do this thing. [Since you can't see my expression, I hasten to say that I offer this in a respectful and playful mode.]
Field sow thistle is tall and bears many flowers on a stalk. Like so:
Field or perennial sow thistle The flower buds are a different shape than we're looking at here, plus it grows mostly in disturbed places, which we're not looking at here.
Dwarf dandelion, which has several species, is probably what this is. It bears one flower per stem, and seems to favor these rocky, sandy environments. See here for pictures and notice the bud shape. See what you think.
Walking the stone rows, I notice what plants grow along them, thinking about how they might be remnants too, what's left after the controllrd burning has stopped.
Like the blueberries, the bloodroot in the burial grounds...
Dennis martinez:
"At Three Fires Walpole Island Reserve (Ojibway, Potawattomi, Ottawa), they never stopped burning. Ontario’s 70 endangered species are found in
quantity in 2,200 hectares on Walpole Island. This is amazing to botanists, who come there from all over the world to see what a “pristine” landscape can be like. But the people are part of that “pristine” quality. They’re still performing their role in the ecosystem, so the biodiversity is incredibly high.It’s the only place in Ontario where you can find biodiversity that high..."
http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2006/06/yes-there-is-great-bias-against-idea.html
That's why I kept it up -- because I wasn't sure. It's not easy identifying wildflowers from photos. So, ok, Dwarf Dandelion it it.
How about the yellow flower in the shot with the bluets?
Jim's right. It's definitely difficult to identify by pictures.
That yellow flower is a cinquefoil, or as they call them in gardening, potentilla. I would have to look it up to see which kind.
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