Ozark Witch Hazel (Hamamelis vernalis)

Last week Jo, Rusty and I made our annual trek down the creek to where Ozark Witch Hazel grows.

The text below originally appeared in a post published on January 24, 2008. 

The more common species of witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) grows throughout eastern North America. It blooms in the late fall. Hamamelis vernalis is native to the Ozarks region. It blooms during the late winter and continues until early spring and is usually found in gravel or rocky stream beds or at the base of rocky slopes along streams. The flowers tend to be more reddish and have a spicy aroma.

Witch-hazel has many traditional uses. It was the wood of choice for "dowsing" -- finding underground water (or sometimes other valuable objects) using a Y-shaped branch. Extracts from the leaves, twigs, and bark were used to reduce inflammation, stop bleeding, and check secretions of the mucous membranes. Astringent skin care products made from American witch-hazel are still available from Dickinson's.

Although I will probably never be at the right place at the right time, I'd really like to witness witch-hazel seed dispersal. Over the next year after blooming, two shiny black seeds develop in a woody capsule. The capsules mature at about the time the following year's flowers open. Then, the capsules split so explosively that they eject the seeds up to twenty-five feet away from the mother plant.

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Ozark Witch Hazel (Hamamelis vernalis)

Moore's delphinium (Delphinium newtonianum)

Moore's Delphinium 

(Delphinium newtonianum)

An endemic species found in only five counties of Arkansas.

(Wildflower Lense)

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Moore's delphinium (Delphinium newtonianum)

Common Blue Violet (Viola papilionacea)

Common Blue Violet
(probably Viola papilionacea)

This particular Common Blue Violet (Viola papilionacea or Viola sororia) is ALWAYS our first spring wildflower. It grows in a microclimate, a crack in a large, south-facing rock. In the winter, leafless trees allow much sunshine to warm the rock, but it's shaded in the summer so the violet doesn't get too dry and die. I first found this little violet about ten years ago. It's bloomed every year since, though our unusually mild winter this year means it's blooming a lot earlier.

Viola papilionacea is a native perennial that grows throughout most of eastern and central North America. Both flowers and leaves are highly variable. Flowers can range from white, to blue, to deep purple. They can also be variegated. The taxonomy of the plant is also questionable and some authors place the plant as a variety of V. sororia. V. pranticola is another synonym. Finally, the Common Blue Violet can hybridize with at least four other species of Viola.

Bees and other insects do sometimes visit and pollinate violets, but they have no reliable pollinators. Hence, violets also produce cleistogamous flowers, flowers that never open and are automatically self-pollinating.

Nature Notes

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Common Blue Violet (Viola papilionacea)

Shooting Star (Dodecatheon meadia)

In all our wanderings on and around our place, Jo and I have found only one specimen of this beautiful wildflower. It's growing near the bluff edge below our house, in area I'd call rough, rocky, not very fertile and "disturbed". (It was scraped off with a bulldozer not too long before we bought this place.) Most of the other growth in that area, I'd classify as brush and brambles.

(Note:  Jo deserves triple credit for this photo, especially for persistence and determination.  Shooting Star stands about a foot tall on a slender stem with flowers and buds dangling loosely.  Even the slightest breeze causes the entire plant to sway.)

Name: Shooting Star (Dodecatheon meadia)
Other common names: Pride of Ohio, Roosterheads, Prairie Pointers
Plant type: Herbaceous perennial native to eastern and central North America.
Family: Primulaceae (Primrose)
Flowers: White to pink to purple with no floral scent.

Sources and additional information:
Kemper Center for Home Gardening
Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center
Illinois Wildflowers
Missouri Plants
USDA Range Map and Plant Profile

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Shooting Star (Dodecatheon meadia)

Hail Hammered Dogwood

American Dogwood (Cornus florida)

Thunderstorms preceded the arrival of a new cold front Monday morning.  Some included hail -- not a lot and not very big, but enough to damage our just opening dogwood blooms.  Some trees seemed to suffer more bloom damage than others.  I've been closely following and photographing the blooms on this particular tree.  It grows right beside our road.

Missing bracts I'll definitely blame on the hail, but I'm not certain something else isn't going on with this particular dogwood (decline? fungal disease?).   I don't know if hail damage would cause so many of the bracts to curl and twist as they've done.  I'll keep my eye on this tree.

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Hail Hammered Dogwood

Wordless Wednesday: Wild Plum

Please visit Wordless Wednesday to see and share more wordless photos from around the world.

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Wordless Wednesday: Wild Plum

Serviceberry (Amelanchier sp)

The serviceberry trees in our woods are starting to bloom. This is probably a Common or Downy Serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea), but there are several different species of serviceberry and they hybridize easily, so I'm not certain.


General characteristics:  "Downy serviceberry is a deciduous, early-flowering, large shrub or small tree which typically grows 15-25' tall in cultivation but can reach 40' in the wild. A Missouri native plant [and native to most of eastern and central North America (range map)] that occurs most often in open rocky woods, wooded slopes, and bluffs. Features 5-petaled, showy, slightly fragrant, white flowers in drooping clusters which appear before the leaves emerge in early spring. The finely-toothed, obovate leaves exhibit good fall color. Flowers give way to small, round green berries which turn red and finally mature to a dark purplish-black in early summer. Edible berries resemble blueberries in size and color and are often used in jams, jellies and pies.  (Source:  Kemper Center for Home Garden of the Missouri Botanical Garden)


Other common names include:  Shadblow, Juneberry, Shadbush, Sarvis-tree.


The berry of a serviceberry looks much likes a rose hip, which makes sense since it a member of family Rosaceae.  The berry is edible, but there is debate about its quality.  Some sources say it just barely palatable and is best left for the birds.  Other sources claim a serviceberry fruit has a delicious, blueberry-like taste.  I've never sampled one because the birds usually beat me too them, and when they're not covered with beautiful white flowers, the small serviceberry trees are difficult to re-locate in the woods. 

Sources and additional links:
Vanderbilt (photos only)
Trees of Wisconsin
Missouri Plants
Oklahoma Extension Service
hort.net 
Dave's Garden

To see more nature photos or participate in Nature Notes, please visit Rambling Woods.

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Serviceberry (Amelanchier sp)

Common Blue Violet (Viola papilionacea)

Our homestead award for first wildflower bloom of the spring goes to a Common Blue Violet (Viola papilionacea or Viola sororia), and I am not surprised. I first found this little violet several years ago. It has garnered the first bloom of the spring award every year since. The violet is growing out of a crack in the south-facing side of a large (small house sized) rock. Sun shines on the rock face and the rock retains the sun's warmth creating a microclimate that allows this particular violet to bloom a week or more ahead of its more conventionally located kin.


Viola papilionacea is a native perennial that grows throughout most of eastern and central North America. Both flowers and leaves are highly variable. Flowers can range from white, to blue, to deep purple. They can also be variegated. The taxonomy of the plant is also questionable and some authors place the plant as a variety of V. sororia. V. pranticola is another synonym. Finally, the Common Blue Violet can hybridize with at least four other species of Viola.


Bees and other insects do sometimes visit and pollinate violets, but they have no reliable pollinators. Hence, violets also produce cleistogamous flowers, flowers that never open and are automatically self-pollinating.

Nature Notes

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Common Blue Violet (Viola papilionacea)

Daffodils on the First Full Day of Spring

Daffodils on the first full day of Spring in the "Sunny South, USA".

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Daffodils on the First Full Day of Spring

Witch Hazel (Hamamelis vernalis)

Witch-Hazel (Hamamelis vernalis)

(Photo:  Jo Smith on 2/18/10)

Jo, I and the dogs took time out from our busy schedules for a long walk in the woods Thursday afternoon. Mainly, we just wanted to enjoy being outdoors in the sunshine, but we also wanted to see if the Witch Hazel down in the creek was still blooming. Our wildflower bloom hunger was satisfied, and despite the muddy sections, we enjoyed our time in the woods.

The text below originally appeared in a post published on January 24, 2008. 

The more common species of witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) grows throughout eastern North America. It blooms in the late fall. Hamamelis vernalis is native to the Ozarks region. It blooms during the late winter and continues until early spring and is usually found in gravel or rocky stream beds or at the base of rocky slopes along streams. The flowers tend to be more reddish and have a spicy aroma.

Witch-hazel has many traditional uses. It was the wood of choice for "dowsing" -- finding underground water (or sometimes other valuable objects) using a Y-shaped branch. Extracts from the leaves, twigs, and bark were used to reduce inflammation, stop bleeding, and check secretions of the mucous membranes. Astringent skin care products made from American witch-hazel are still available from Dickinson's.

Although I will probably never be at the right place at the right time, I'd really like to witness witch-hazel seed dispersal. Over the next year after blooming, two shiny black seeds develop in a woody capsule. The capsules mature at about the time the following year's flowers open. Then, the capsules split so explosively that they eject the seeds up to twenty-five feet away from the mother plant.

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Witch Hazel (Hamamelis vernalis)

A Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly (Phoebis sennae) in My World

This tattered and worn Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly on a tattered and worn zinnia flower seems an appropriate symbol for current conditions in my world. Nature is winding down for winter.

We've only had a couple of light frosts thus far, but soon a major blast of Arctic air will come barreling down from the north and all the bugs and flowers will be gone. Or will they?

While I won't see nearly as many insects until spring, they will still be here. Most will be hiding in leaf litter or underground in their larval forms. A few  will overwinter as adults and surprise me with their appearance on warm winter days. All will be waiting for spring to begin again their life cycles.

In their own way, the zinnias will also still be here. All the genetic information needed to produce new plants and flowers is stored in their tiny seeds. Were we good gardeners, we'd deadhead each flower after the bloom is spent. Were we even mediocre gardeners, we clean up all the old plants after they freeze. But if history is any guide, the dead zinnias will remain in the garden for most of the winter if not all the way into next spring. Our excuse is that the zinnias need plenty of time to reseed themselves. Also, many times I've seen Goldfinches feeding on zinnia seeds. Regardless, the zinnias are still here.

Nature will soon take a winter's rest, but insects and flowers still abound and are just waiting for spring to begin again.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

A Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly (Phoebis sennae) in My World

Nature Notes: Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Butterfly Weed is a native herbaceous perennial. Though it is a member of the milkweed family it does not have milky-sapped stems.

Butterfly weed is easily grown in average, dry to medium, well-drained soils in full sun. Drought tolerant. Does well in poor, dry soils. New growth tends to emerge late in the spring. Plants are easily grown from seed, but are somewhat slow to establish and may take 2-3 years to produce flowers. Mature plants may freely self-seed in the landscape if seed pods are not removed prior to splitting open. Butterfly weed does not transplant well due to its deep taproot, and is probably best left undisturbed once established.

Butterfly Weed has a long bloom period from late spring throughout the summer. Flowers are a nectar source for many butterflies and leaves are a food source for monarch butterfly larvae (caterpillars).

Great Spangled Fritillary butterflies are among the species attracted to Butterfly Weed by its color and its copious production of nectar.

We hope the Butterfly Weed's wind-borne seeds have a successful journey and establish many more plants for future years.

All photos are by Jo.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

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Nature Notes: Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Banded Longhorn Flower Beetle (Typocerus velutinus)

Banded Longhorn Flower Beetle

(Typocerus velutinus)

Identification: Pattern usually distinctive: broad yellow bands on a chestnut background. Sometimes bands are weak. Tends to be larger than several of the other common Flower Longhorns. Yellow markings do not continue across the two elytra as a continuous band; instead, there is a break along the suture.

Range: Eastern North America

Life Cycle: Larvae feed on decaying hardwoods such as oak, hickory. Adults usually found in daytime, but do come to lights, so probably somewhat nocturnal.

Comments: Photo taken with Banded Longhorn Flower Beetle feeding on Queen Anne's Lace growing along our road out. They will feed on a variety of flowers, but seem to have a preference for Queen Anne's Lace.





Sources and additional images/information:
BugGuide Species Page
Cirrus Images
Stephen Cresswell Photography

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Banded Longhorn Flower Beetle (Typocerus velutinus)

Limestone Wild Petunia (Ruellia strepens)

(Photo: 6/11/09 by Jo)

Limestone Wild Petunia (Ruellia strepens)

Other common names: Smooth Wild Petunia, Smooth Ruellia

Status: Native to North America.

Distribution: The northern limit of Smooth Ruellia is in Illinois, Indiana and eastward to New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Extends southward to Florida and Texas.

Habitat: Found in rich forest and along forest margins. Grows well in moist, organically rich, well-drained soils in part shade. Tolerates close to full shade.

Flowering period: May to July in the northern limits of its range. Blooms until September in southern states. Flowers last for only one day but the plant produces many flowers while in bloom.

Comments: Although wild petunias and cultivated petunias look somewhat similar, they are not closely related -- not even members of the same family. Wild petunias are members of the Acanthus family. Cultivated petunias were imported from South America and are members of the potato (Solanaceae) family.

Sources and additional information:
Missouri Plants
USDA Plant Profile and Distribution Map
Nearctica
Kemper Center for Home Gardening (Missouri Botonical Garden)
Encyclopedia of Life
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

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Limestone Wild Petunia (Ruellia strepens)

Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium)

Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium)
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Sisyrinchium angustifolium, commonly known as Stout blue-eyed grass or simply blue-eyed grass, is the most common blue-eyed grass of the eastern United States. It is a perennial plant growing in fields, meadows, and other grassy places. (Wikipedia)

Though their foliage is grass-like, the blue-eyed grasses belong to the iris family not the grass family. Sisyrinchium angustifolium is noted for its violet-blue flowers and branched flowering stems.

Best grown in medium moisture, well-drained soil in full sun. Tolerates light shade. Prefers consistently moist soils that do not dry out, but drainage must be good. Will freely self-seed in optimum growing conditions. (Kemper Center for Home Gardening --Missouri Botanical Garden)

The flowers are about three-quarters of an inch (1.9 cm) across, and stand erect above the leaves on slender grasslike flattened stalks. Individually, they are short lived, but the succession of flowers can last several weeks in spring and early summer.

Recent authorities have combined several previously recognized species (Sisyrinchium angustifolia, S. graminoides, S. atlanticum, and S. miamiense) into a single wide ranging species that occurs from Newfoundland and Quebec to southern Florida and west to eastern Texas. Its native habitat is open woods, moist pinelands, fields, meadows, marshes, the edges of swamps and grassy roadsides.  (Floridata)

Growing Conditions:

Water Use: Medium
Light Requirement: Sun , Part Shade
Soil Moisture: Wet , Moist
Soil Description: Moist, poor to average soils
Conditions Comments: This short-lived perennial will decline if allowed to dry out. Heavy mulch causes crown rot and rich, organic soils encourage rank, vegetative growth. Plants need to be divided at least every other year.

Propagation:

Propagation Material: Seeds
Description: Propagate by seed or division. Several dozen divisions can be expected from a mature, healthy specimen.
Seed Collection: Collect seed capsule when they have darkened to brown and become wrinkled.  (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center)

The taxonomy of this genus is rather perplexing and confusing, as several of these species, such as Sisyrinchium angustifolium, form complexes with many variants named as species. More genetic research and cladistic analysis need to be performed to sort out the relationships between the species.  (Wikipedia)

Sisyrinchium: Greek sys for pig; rynchos for snout; referring to a pig grubbing the roots for food.

angustifolium: Latin for "narrow leaf"  (Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium -- University of Wisconsin)

Also: USDA Plant Profile and Distribution Map

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Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium)

Bi-Color Bird's Foot Violet (Viola pedata)

(Photo: 3/27/09 by Marvin)

Bird's Foot Violet (Viola pedata)

Bird's Foot Violet is a very common wildflower in the Ozark Mountains. It's preference for rocky and dry woodlands means it finds much of the Ozarks ideal habitat. Bi-color bird's foot violets are less common than solid colored, but one still sees many of them. The cluster pictured above was growing at the top of the first hill along our road out -- about the same place where the census taker abandoned her car and decided to walk the rest of the way down to our place -- definitely rocky.

According to Wildflowers of Missouri:

Flowering - April - June and sometimes again in late fall.
Habitat - Rocky or dry open woods, slopes, ridges, prairies, glades, roadsides.
Origin - Native to U.S.
Other info. - This is a striking and easily identifiable species. The flowers are very large and the leaves are finely divided and are similar to a birds foot. The common name for the plant is "Bird's Foot Violet".

Other Sources and Information:
Discover Life
Missouri Botanical Gardens

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Bi-Color Bird's Foot Violet (Viola pedata)

Today's Flowers: Bloodroot

                                                                                                                                      (Photo taken on 03/22/09 by Jo)

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)

Bloodroot is a member of the Poppy family. Its name is derived from the red juice that can be extracted from it's red-orange roots (actually rhizomes). Various medicinal and mystical properties have been associated with this juice in the past. However, since the juice is escharotic (a substance that causes tissue to die and slough off) and an incorrect internal dosage is toxic, the FDA recommends that bloodroot not be used by herbal healers.

Related Posts:

Bloodroot ... Saturday, March 22, 2008 

Bloodroot ... Sunday, March 18, 2007 

Wildflower Blooms Begin ... Tuesday, March 13, 2007

To participate in Today's Flowers please click on the logo above.

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Today's Flowers: Bloodroot

Wild Plum Blossoms

                                                                                                       (Photo taken on 03/18/09 by Marvin)

Wild Plum Blossoms

According to the field guilds, we could have several different varieties of wild plums and they hybridize easily in the wild. I'm not even going to attempt a species ID.

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Wild Plum Blossoms

Daffodil

One of our first daffodil blooms of Spring, 2009.  The first blooms actually opened yesterday, but it was much too windy to get a decent photo.  Today was still windy, but not quite so bad.

These earliest blooming daffodils are part of a group growing randomly at the edge of the woods, a group transplanted by dragline and bulldozer when our water line was installed a couple of years ago.  Tenacious!

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Daffodil

Clasping Venus' Looking Glass

Clasping Venus' Looking Glass (Triodanis perfoliata)

A wildflower that grows down in the woods and also around the edges of our yard. It has blue flowers that spiral around the stem. (It is sometimes classified as Specularia perfoliata.)

See Also:
Missouri Plants
LBJ Wildflower Center

Clasping Venus' Looking Glass