Category: Compositae

  • Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium)

    Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) blooming in Schenley Park, Pittsburgh
    Photographed June 12.

    Listed as Chrysanthemum parthenium in many references. The plants bear dozens of little daisy flowers, and in some specimens—like these from Schenley Park—the rays crowd themselves so much that they create a doubling effect, which has been bred into full doubles in garden varieties.

    Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) blooming in Schenley Park, Pittsburgh
    Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) blooming in Schenley Park, Pittsburgh

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  • Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

    Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) blooming in South Park, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
    Photographed July 4.

    Black and gold—a perfect Pittsburgh flower. Black-Eyed Susan is often planted as an ornamental, but it is also native in our area, as indeed it is in much of the eastern half of the United States. This large stand was blooming in a field in South Park.

    Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) blooming in South Park, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
    Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) blooming in South Park, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
    Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) blooming in South Park, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

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  • Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense)

    Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense)
    Photographed June 30

    A much-hated weed, but the flowers are pretty, and the seedheads are delightful to finches.

    Seeds of Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense)
    Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense)
    Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense)

    We also have pictures of an unusual white form of Canada Thistle.

  • Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

    Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) blooming in Schenley Park, Pittsburgh
    Photographed June 12.

    Sometimes mistaken for Queen Anne’s Lace, to which it is not related; Yarrow is a composite, meaning that each of those little flowers in the bunch is itself a head of multiple flowers. This plant was blooming in an open field in Schenley Park.

    For a description of the species, see the Achillea millefolium reference page.


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  • Yellow Hawkweed (Hieracium caespitosum)

    Yellow Hawkweed (Hieracium caespitosum)
    Photographed May 29.

    A common weed of lawns; it closely resembles the more spectacular Orange Hawkweed (H. aurantiacum) in everything but color. This one has many common names, some of which it shares with the orange species, including King Devil, Devil’s Paintbrush, Yellow Paintbrush, and Fox-and-Cubs. Many current botanists place both in the genus Pilosella, so that (making the adjective agree in gender) it becomes Pilosella caespitosa; but there are still arguments about that, and old Pa Pitt will stand back and let the professionals sort it out. These plants were blooming in a field near Farmington.

    Yellow Hawkweed (Hieracium caespitosum)