Also sometimes called Bladder Campion, especially in the United States; but that name also belongs to the even more bladdery Silene vulgaris. These charming white flowers were blooming along the Montour Trail in Moon Township, where we caught them still spattered with dew.
For a description of the species, see the Silene latifolia reference page.
A vine that twines its way through the underbrush along creeks and streams, dangling clusters of flowers in white, pink, or purple. These flowers produce seeds, but the vine also grows less showy flowers near the ground that turn into a single underground seed, like a peanut. These vines were found in Bird Park in Mount Lebanon.
For a description of the species, see the Amphicarpaea bracteata reference page.
A fine mound of Butterfly Weed growing along the Montour Trail in Moon Township.
For a description of the species, see the Asclepias tuberosa reference page.
Our native autumn Clematis, very similar at first glance to the Asiatic Autumn Clematis (Clematis terniflora) that has made itself at home in our city lots. The leaves, however, are quite different: they are three-parted, with a tendency to be toothed, especially toward the ends of the leaflets. These vines were running rampant through the other flora and up and down a telephone pole along the Montour Trail in Moon Township.
Other common names include Traveler’s Joy and Love Vine.
For a description of the species, see the Clematis virginiana reference page.
Formerly in its own genus as Gaura biennis. This is an unusual flower here, but locally abundant, as it was here along the Montour Trail in Moon Township, where it grew in several large stands on the bank of a ditch along the trail. Botanical references often tell us it prefers dry soil, but the two stands Father Pitt has photographed were both in decidedly damp places. The curious flowers make as much of a show with their stamens as with their four petals.
