Rudbeckia Insect Gall

Posted on August 25, 2015 by admin

Green-headed Coneflower

Green-headed Coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata) also goes by the common names Tall Coneflower, or Yellow Coneflower, or Cut-leaf Coneflower. It is commonly seen in the wild and also in so called “prairie plantings.” It is tall, sometimes reaching 10 feet (2.5m) in height, with yellow disk and ray flowers. The ray flowers are not reflexed. It has a smooth stem and pointed leaf tips.

Green-headed Coneflower flowerheads deformed by Asphondylia rudbeckiaeconspicua

More Asphondylia rudbeckiaeconspicua galls on Green-headed Coneflower

A naturalist friend of mine recently brought me a few galls from her garden in Royal Oak that developed on her Green-headed Coneflowers. It proved to be Asphondylia rudbeckiaeconspicua, one of the Gall Midges. Bugguide.net only had records from Iowa and Virginia. I submitted photos for Michigan. The blog, Field Biology in Southeastern Ohio has an Ohio record. iNaturlist.org has records from Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania being the type location (the place that the original specimens came from). Wong et al lists it from southern Manitoba.

Closeup of gall larva and sectioned Asphondylia rudbeckiaeconspicua gall along with another affected flower.

I’m wondering if this gall is common but overlooked in Michigan. I have checked eight colonies in Michigan without finding any additional galls. This is the only gall I have ever seen on the genus Rudbeckia. If you find this gall you can submit your photos to bugguide.net.
Copyright 2015 by Donald Drife

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Indian-pipe: Michigan’s Ghost Plant

Posted on August 11, 2015 by admin

Indian-pipe

Recently, in Tenhave Woods, located in the city of Royal Oak, I was shown a colony of Indian-pipe (Monotropa uniflora). For over 40 years I have been studying these woods and this is the first time I have seen Indian Pipe there. I believe it is a recent colonizer. This is a nice group of several hundred plants.

I have marked the location of flowering plants in a colony of Indian-pipe near Grayling. The plants seldom appear in the same spot from year to year but new clumps come up several yards [meters] away. Some years the plants do not appear above ground at all.

Indian-pipe

Because Indian-pipe does not require sunlight to produce its food it can grow in dark places on the forest floor. This flowering plant is often mistaken for a fungus because it lacks green leaves. When you see a cluster of these pure white plants in a shaft of sunlight they appear to glow, granting the plants an ethereal quality. Locally this plant is called Ghost Plant.

Indian-pipe plants are 4 to 6 inches [10 to 15cm] tall with a single hanging flower. Flowers hang downward but straighten up and point skyward after pollination. Soon after the plant is pollinated, it begins to turn black, giving it another common name of Corpse Plant. Dried seed capsules will sometimes persist through the winter.

Indian-pipe after pollination

Lacking chlorophyll, Indian-pipe gets its nutrients by parasitizing different fungi, taking food from but not giving anything to the host fungi. The host fungi attaches to the roots of living trees and takes nourishment from the tree but also gives back nutrients in a saprophytic relationship. This complex relationship between Indian-pipe, fungus, and tree might best be termed symbiotic.

Indian-pipe is currently placed in the Heath Family (Ericaceae) but it has been placed in the Shinleaf or Wintergreen Family (Pyrolaceae) or in the Indian-pipe Family (Monotropaceae). Where it is placed depends on your definition of what a plant family is. Recognizing the broad Heath Family is the best given the latest DNA evidence. You can recognize Pyroloideae as a subfamily of Ericaceae if you wish.

Pinesap

Pinesap (Hypopitys monotropa) is similar to Indian-pipe and at one time was placed in the same genus as Monotropa hypopithys. It is also a leafless flowering plant. It has multiple flowers on a stem and is cream colored or even reddish but never pure white. Its individual flowers are smaller than the flowers of Indian-pipe.

Pinesap after flowering and in winter

Indian-pipe has a long flowering season. I have seen it in bloom from June through the end of September. Go out and look for it.
Copyright 2015 by Donald Drife

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Spring Beauty in Michigan

Posted on May 18, 2015 by admin

Claytonia caroliniana Claytonia virginica

L – Carolina Spring Beauty R- Eastern Spring Beauty

Michigan has two species of Spring Beauty: Eastern Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) and Carolina Spring Beauty (Claytonia caroliniana). Spring Beauty is one of earliest spring wildflowers. It flowers before the trees leaf out. A month after flowering the plants have set seed and begin to yellow. Michigan Audubon’s Warner Sanctuary has acres covered with Eastern Spring Beauty. Six weeks after the plants were in full flower I could not find a sign of the plants above ground.

Claytonia virginica Claytonia caroliniana

Spring Beauty Flowers showing range of color
L -aberrant 6 petaled flower with very dark color C- pale pink flowers R- nearly white flowers

Both of our Spring Beauties have white flowers that are streaked with pink veins. Some flowers lack these veins and are pure white. Other flowers are so heavily streaked as to appear pink. There is usually much variation in any population. They have pink pollen and normally 5 petals.

Eastern Spring Beauty

Eastern Spring Beauty has narrow leaves without a distinct petiole (leaf stem). Where the two species occur together it starts flowering about a week later than Carolina Spring Beauty but their flowering times overlap. In Michigan, Eastern Spring Beauty occurs mostly south of the Bay City to Muskegon Line but there are some records north of that line.

Carolina Spring Beauty

Carolina Spring Beauty has broad leaves with distinct petioles. In Michigan, it occurs mostly north of the Bay City to Muskegon Line.

Most species of plants have a distinct chromosome number. Spring Beauties have a wide range of numbers and appear to breed successfully with plants of other numbers. Reported chromosome numbers for Carolina Spring Beauty are 2n=16, 24, 25, 26, 27, 36, 38. For Eastern Spring Beauty 50 cynotypes (chromosome numbers) have been recorded ranging between 2n = 12-190. Eastern Spring Beauty in the Great Lakes region has numbers below 2n=28 with the higher numbers coming from farther south.

There is still time to find Carolina Spring Beauty blooming in northern Michigan. Get out and look for this pretty plant if you can.

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Michigan’s Naturalized Teasels

Posted on August 12, 2014 by admin

Cut-leaf Teasel

Dipsacus fullonum-habit-white flower-lavender

Wild Teasel habit, white flower, lavender flower

Dipsacus-laciniatus-habit-flower-seedhead

Cut-leaf Teasel habit, flower, seedhead

Michigan has two naturalized species of Teasel: Wild Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum), and Cut-leaf Teasel (Dipsacus laciniatus). Both were originally from Europe but now are found commonly in southern Michigan but rarely in the north. Being tall plants, often 2m [7 feet] high, they are easy to spot along highways. Dried “winter bouquets” sometimes use the attractive heads either naturally or spray-painted. They bloom starting in the center of the head and moving outward toward the top and bottom. Both species are biennials, developing a basal rosette of leaves the first year and flowering in the second.

Wild Teasel leaves

Wild Teasel has stem leaves that have entire (smooth) margins but sometimes they have prickly margins or even coarse teeth. The flowers are normally lilac colored but can be white or cream-colored. This species was first collected in Michigan in 1844.

Cut-leaf Teasel leaves

Cut-leaf Teasel is not listed in many wildflower books. Its stem leaves are pinnatifed (with deep lobes) or bipinnatfid (with the lobes, lobed again). Their leaf bases join and sometimes will hold water. The genus name Dipsacus is said to be derived from the Greek word dipsa meaning to thirst, based on this characteristic. This species is taller on average than the Wild Teasel and often forms large colonies. Normally the flowers are a dirty white. The earliest records are from 1894.

Basal rosettes of Dipsacus fullonum-l and D. laciniatus-r

Basal rosettes of Wild Teasel-l and Cut-leaf Teasel-r

Both species are in flower now and easy to find in southern Michigan. Take a close look at teasel and learn to separate the two species. These are impressive plants.

Note: The nomenclature of Teasel is confusing. Dipsacus fullonum was called D. sylvestris and is so-named in older wildflower books. D. fullonum was applied to a European species,now called D. sativus, that has not yet been found in Michigan.
Copyright 2014 by Donald Drife

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Blueberry: a Taste of Summer

Posted on August 3, 2014 by admin

Vaccinium augustifolium Flowers and Fruit

Low Sweet Blueberry
Flowers and Fruit

Low Sweet Blueberry (Vaccinium augustifolium) is the common species we see in the sandy uplands near Grayling, Michigan. It has clusters of bell-shaped flowers in June and the fruit ripens in July. The bushes are short, less than 3dm [1 foot] tall and it is hard on my back to bend for hours picking berries. Wild blueberries are smaller but sweeter than their domestic cousins.

Low Sweet Blueberry

In years when a hard frost occurs during flowering time or the spring is too dry blueberries yield little if any fruit. Some years the only plants bearing fruit are at the edges of fields that have tall trees surrounding them and protecting the plants from frost. In a dry year, we sometimes find a few berries on bushes growing in a depression that collects some water. In a good berry year, there are acres of fruiting plants. Low Sweet Blueberries are deep-rooted and survive wildfires. The best picking is often two to five years after a burn. Competing plants are gone, sunlight reaches the plants, and the sterile sand is enriched.

Vaccinium augustifolium Fruit showing variations

Low Sweet Blueberry Fruit showing color variations

Vaccinium augustifolium in pail showing fruit color variations

Low Sweet Blueberries in pail showing fruit color variations

Low Sweet Blueberries form a variable species complex. Berries are blue with a solid glaucous bloom, or purple with a gray striped bloom, or shiny black. The leaves are green or glaucous green. The fruit types do not breed true from seed. Shiny black fruit can produce offspring with blue fruit. The extreme plants are distinctive and have been named as separate species or varieties of V. augustifolium but appear to me to be only forms. I know of no pure stands containing only one fruit type. It seems best to treat this as a single variable species.

Vaccinium augustifolium Undersides of leaves

Low Sweet Blueberry Undersides of leaves

Difficulties in classifying this species however do not distract from my pleasure of eating the fruit. A handful of blueberries eaten on a hike is a treat. Blueberry pancakes and pies are a highpoint of my summer. My family has a scale for rating the quality of the blueberry crop. A bad year is when less than a handful is found. Next is a pancake year (1 cup full), a pie year (4 cups), and then an abundant year. In an abundant year, such as this year, you pick enough for pancakes, pies, and to freeze a few for a rare winter treat.

Blueberry Pancakes and Pie

The short bushes are hard to pick from but it is worth the work. Get out while the picking is still good but watch out for bears.
Copyright 2014 by Donald Drife

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Michigan’s Wild Strawberries

Posted on June 23, 2014 by admin

Fragaria vesca Fragaria virginiana Woodland and Wild Strawberry

Woodland-l-and-Wild-r- Strawberry flowers

Michigan has two species of native Strawberries. The Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) and Woodland Strawberry (F. vesca). If you have never eaten a native Strawberry you simply have not experienced life. The fruit is about 6mm (1/4 inch) long and all the flavor of a large commercial Strawberry is packed into its small size. I found a handful of each species last weekend near Grayling. Michigan. Wild Strawberries are sweeter and juicer than the Woodland Strawberry but I will eat both.

Woodland-l-and-Wild-r- Strawberry Fruit

The two species normally are easy to tell apart. Wild Strawberries have more or less spherical fruit. The strawberry fruit is called a fruiting receptacle and this species’ seeds are on the surface of the fruit in tiny depressions. Fruiting Wild Strawberries have their fruit held beneath the leaves. The terminal tooth on the bluish-green leaflets is smaller than the adjoining teeth.

Wild Strawberry Fruit

Woodland Strawberries have elongate fruit and its seeds stick-out from the surface of the fruit. Their fruit is held above the leaves. The terminal tooth on the bright green leaflets is the same size as the adjoining teeth.

Woodland Strawberry Fruit

Wild Strawberries grow in many habitats. When they are found in old orchards or under Wild Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) trees, Grape Ferns (Botrychium spp.) often grow with them. Wild Strawberries tend to be semi-evergreen. Sometimes they still possess last year’s leaves when the plants flower in the spring.

Get out and look for strawberries along the edges of abandoned farm fields. They are ripe now and worth the time it takes to find, pick, and eat them.
Copyright 2014 by Donald Drife

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Michigan’s Bellworts

Posted on May 14, 2014 by admin

Large-flowered Bellwort – L, Sessile Bellwort – R

Two species of bellworts occur in Michigan. They are Large-flowered Bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora) and Sessile Bellwort or Merrybells (Uvularia sessilifolia). The Lily Family (Liliaceae) was broken into more natural groups resulting in placement of the Bellwort into the Lily-of-the-valley Family (Convallariaceae).

Uvularia grandiflora Large-flowered Bellwort - L, U. sessilifolia Sessile Bellwort - R

Large-flowered Bellwort – L, Sessile Bellwort – R

Large-flowered Bellwort has bright yellow flowers on plants 25 cm (10 inches) tall. The leaves are perfoliate meaning that the stem pierces the leaf. The undersides of the leaves have short hairs. Flowers appear on the plant before it is fully developed resulting in a weak looking plant. It occurs throughout Michigan. Bumblebees use Large-flowered Bellwort as an early nectar and pollen source.

Large-flowered Bellwort – L, Sessile Bellwort – R

Sessile Bellwort has pale yellow flowers on plants 15 cm (6 inches) tall and is a more delicate plant than the other Bellwort. Its leaves are sessile meaning that they lack a petiole (a leafstalk). The undersides of the leaves are glaucous. The plant has a unique distribution. It occurs in southeastern Michigan, eastern and extreme southern Ohio, extreme southern Indiana, and the southern tip of Illinois. It is found in central and western Wisconsin and then the west end of the Upper Peninsula. See the Flora of North America map. I know of no other plant or animal with this peculiar range.

Bellworts are flowering in southern Michigan now. Get out into a rich deciduous woods and see if you can find them.
Copyright 2014 by Donald Drife

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Seaside Goldenrod in Michigan

Posted on October 30, 2013 by admin

Seaside Goldenrod

Seaside Goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens) is native at the edges of salt marshes and sand dunes along the east coast of the United States. This halophyte occurs in Michigan along highways and roads that are heavily salted in the winter. Growing in areas that collect salt runoff they compete with few native plants in this harsh environment. First recorded in Michigan in 1978 in Wayne County it is now moving north.

This distinctive Goldenrod is easy to recognize. It is 1 to 2 meters (3 to 6 feet) tall and blooms in September and October. I recently found the plant in Troy, Michigan. A few plants still flowered but most had set seeds and some plants had dehisced some seeds. Succulent, toothless leaves clasp its stem. Its flowers are large for a goldenrod and contain only 6 to 10 ray flowers. They resemble small aster blooms. Sempervirens means “always green” but the plants turn brown in the winter in the north. Fuzzy seeds, called achenes, look like small dandelion heads. They are blown by the wind and are dispersed long distances.

Seaside Goldenrod

In its native range it is an important nectar plant for migrating Monarch butterflies. This plant’s late blooming time in the north might delay the migration of Monarchs too long. If it expands its range in the north it may have a negative impact on migrating butterflies.

Seaside Goldenrod’s reported range in Michigan is from five counties in southeast Michigan and Berrien County in the extreme southwest corner. (See the Michigan Flora website) I found it in Oakland County which is the seventh county for it in the state. According to the Michigan Flora website the species is “Doubtless much more widespread already than collections suggest.” I have seen it for several years along the expressway where I could not stop and gather specimens but it is now invading secondary roads near the interstate.

It will be interesting to see if this plant continues to spread. Will it become another invasive species? I don’t know. It does not appear to accept much competition from other plant species and not many native plants tolerate this salty environment, so hopefully it will not become a problem. Look for the plant as you travel and help document its range.

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Common Michigan Milkweeds

Posted on September 28, 2013 by admin

Eleven species of milkweeds are native to Michigan. All species except the Butterfly-weed possess milky sap. Monarch butterfly larvae feed on the milkweeds’ foliage and the adults feed on the nectar of the flowers. The pod is correctly called a follicle that is a fruit that splits in half when it is mature along a single joint. Attached to the seed is a feather-like pappus allowing the seed to travel via the wind. Flower clusters are in umbels meaning the individual flower stems all come from the same point. Michigan’s five common species are:

Poke Milkweed

Poke Milkweed (Asclepias exaltata) is a woodland species, having smooth, thin, opposite, leaves that are pointed on each end. Its white flowers, tinted with lavender or green are some of the largest of our milkweeds. Hanging in loose umbels that come from the leaf axils, they are quite distinctive.

Swamp Milkweed

Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) grows where its feet can get wet. The two-toned (whitish and pink or rose) flowers, in upright clusters, bloom over a long period of time. You can often find plants with follicles that still have flower buds. Smooth, opposite, lanceolate leaves, smooth stem, and narrow upright follicles are good characters to use to recognize this species.

Common Milkweed

Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) has flowers in dense spherical umbels. Their color varies from white to pink to rose to almost green. The leaves are hairy, opposite and blunt tipped. Warty, fleshy, follicles are covered with fine dense hair. This species is common in fields, woodland edges, and waste places.

Butterfly-weed flowers

Butterfly-weed (Asclepias tuberosa) has non-milky juice, alternate leaves and orange or yellow upright flower. The three photos showing the variation in flower color are all from the same stand. It grows in the Lower Peninsula and is most common in the south half.

Butterfly-weed plant and seeds

Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias verticillata) has narrow leaves in whorls of 3 to 8 and umbels of white flowers that normally appear along the upper third of the plant. This is one of our shortest milkweeds, appearing slender in habit. It grows in dry fields, roadsides, waste places, and prairies; often in large stands, that can be spotted from a moving car. It is more common in southern Michigan but there are several records from the Upper Peninsula.

Whorled Milkweed

I would encourage you to plant a few milkweeds in your landscape. Plants are available from many nurseries, the flowers are unique as well as colorful, and the Monarch Butterflies could us the help.

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Spring Wildflowers III

Posted on May 21, 2013 by admin

Marsh Marigold

Marsh Marigold (Calthus palustris) grows throughout the state. In fact, it grows around the world in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. It likes to grow were its roots are wet. It blooms in May in the Lower Peninsula and into June in the Upper. Its showy flowers can often be seen from a moving car.

Yellow Wood Poppy

Yellow Wood Poppy also called Celandine (Stylophorum diphyllum) occurs in the Lower Peninsula. Blooming in May, the attractive flowers provide yellow highlights in the rich woods. Later it sets hairy seedpods. Its flowers are greater than 17mm and it has opposite leaves. The similar, imported, yellow-flowered, Celandine (Chelidonium majus) has flowers less than 14mm across, alternate leaves, and smooth seedpods. Although it is smaller than the Yellow Wood Poppy it is sometimes called Greater Celandine from a translation of its scientific name.

Yellow Wood Poppy

Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum) is a common woodland species in southern Michigan. Eleven species from this genus have been recorded from Michigan, but this one has the showiest flowers. The common garden geranium is from the genus Pelargonium that has many species and hybrids in cultivation.

Wild Geranium

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To get people looking at, enjoying, and understanding the natural world around them.

Category Archives: Michigan Wildflowers

Rudbeckia Insect Gall

Indian-pipe: Michigan’s Ghost Plant

Spring Beauty in Michigan

Michigan’s Naturalized Teasels

Blueberry: a Taste of Summer

Michigan’s Wild Strawberries

Michigan’s Bellworts

Seaside Goldenrod in Michigan

Common Michigan Milkweeds

Spring Wildflowers III