Evening Wildflower Walk

Cathy and I made a point to go out and take a little walk this evening. Nothing special... just a dirt road, but it was one we haven't walked before.

The late summer and early fall flowers are in full bloom. Here is boneset, Eupatorium perfoliatum.

And it's sister or cousin, Joe-Pye Weed. It used to be in Eupatorium, but I see they've moved a bunch of these plants to a new genus, Eutrochium. So now it's Eutrochium maculatum. The stems are sometimes spotted (maculate), but sometimes purple.

This is horsemint. These "flowers" are really colored bracts, like a poinsettia. The actual flowers are the fuzzy places encircling the stalk between the stacked bracts. They vary from off white to light pink to light purple. I thought these white ones were handsome. Monarda punctata.

Nothing spectacular about the touch-me-not, or spotted jewelweed, but they are pretty. They are one of the few naturally orange flowers. Impatiens capensis.

And finally, here is one I've never showed on the blog before. I think this is the first good pictures I've ever gotten of it. This is hairy willowherb, Epilobium hirsutum. I'm sorry to tell you that it's alien, because of course, it's pretty. If you look at the white stamens in the middle of the flower you can see they are in an x or a cross. That's a big clue that it's in the Onagraceae family, the same as evening primrose.

We walked 4 miles. The car is almost packed. I have a few odds and ends to do in the morning. Hoping to leave around noon.

See Eupatorium Fest