The white form of Moth Mullein is the usual one around here, though the yellow form is more common in most of the range. This plant was growing along the Montour Trail in Moon Township. The close view above shows us the the “filaments all bearded with violet wool” that Asa Gray mentions in his description of the species. For that description and more, see the Verbascum blattaria reference page.
Tiny lawn weeds that reveal lavender stripes when we look at them closely. These were growing beside a sidewalk in Verona.
For a description of the species, see the Veronica officinalis reference page.
A beautiful native flower, prized by gardeners, that is surprisingly common around here. This plant was growing in recently disturbed ground near a construction site—always a good place to look for interesting plants—along the Monongahela on the South Side. The pictures were taken on June 10.
For a fuller description, see the Penstemon digitalis reference page.
In the close-up picture below, we can see the hairy tongue, inside the tube of the flower, that gives “beardtongues” their name.
Butter-and-Eggs is very common in the city, and along roadsides in the suburbs. It can sprout almost anywhere; it blooms for a long time; and it seems impervious to abuse. It’s one of our most beautiful weeds, and if it were at all rarer it would be a treasured garden flower. Father Pitt has accumulated a number of pictures of Linaria vulgaris since 2011, which was the last time we looked at this plant on this site.
Gray describes the genus and the species:
LINÀRIA [Toum.] Hill. TOADFLAX. Calyx 5-parted. Corolla spurred at base on the lower side (in abnormal specimens sometimes regularly 5-spurred). Capsule thin, opening below the summit by 1 or more pores or chinks. Seeds many. —Herbs, with at least all the upper leaves alternate (in ours), flowering in summer. (Name from Linum, the Flax, which some species resemble in their foliage.)
Erect or ascending, with narrow entire leaves.
Flowers yellow.
L. vulgaris Hill. (RAMSTED, BUTTER AND EGGS.) Glabrous, erect, 1.3 m. or less high; leaves pale, linear or nearly so, extremely numerous, subaltérnate; raceme dense; corolla 2-3 cm. long or more, including the slender subulate spur; seeds winged. — Fields and roadsides, throughout our range. (Nat from Eu.)
If these were larger, they might be treasured garden flowers. They are found everywhere in our lawns, and they are small enough that it takes a good close look to notice the delicate violet stripes on the flowers. The plant is fuzzy, with oval leaves and rambling stems; it is short enough to pass easily under lawn-mower blades. You can find it blooming from mid-spring through summer; these plants were blooming in West End Park in late May.
Gray describes the genus and the species:
VERONICA [Tourn.] L. SPEEDWELL The lateral lobes of the corolla or the lowest one commonly narrower than the others. Stamens 2, one each side of the upper lobe of the corolla, exserted; anther-cells confluent at the apex. Style entire; stigma single. Capsule flattened, obtuse or notched at the apex, 2-celled, few-many-seeded. – Chiefly herbs; flowers blue, flesh-color, or white. (Derivation doubtful; perhaps the flower of St. Veronica.)
Corolla wheel-shaped, the tube short; capsule more or less notched, strongly flattened; low or decumbent herbs.
Perennials, stoloniferous or rooting at base, with opposite usually serrate leaves, racemes axillary, mostly opposite; corolla pale blue.
V. officinalis L. (COMMON S.) Pubescent; stem prostrate, rooting at base; leaves short-petioled, obovate-elliptical or wedge-oblong, obtuse, serrate; racemes densely many-flowered; pedicels shorter than the calyx; capsule obovate-triangular, broadly notched. — Dry hills and open woods, Nfd. to Ont., Mich., and southw. May-Aug. (Eurasia.)
