This species is not recorded in Pennsylvania in the usual sources. However, its range is discontinuous and spotty, and it is recorded in nearby sections of Ohio, as well as in the Virginia suburbs of Washington. At any rate, this colony along the Trillium Trail in Fox Chapel has been thriving for years.
For more pictures and more of a description, see the Enemion biternatum 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.
This popular garden flower often escapes, and where a patch has once been planted, it reseeds itself year after year, spreading to wherever the seeds are carried by rain and gravity. It’s known by a large number of common names, among them Persian Jewels and Rattlebox. The latter name refers to the seed pods, which grow to balls about an inch in diameter that rattle when the seeds ripen and dry. These plants were growing on a bank in Beechview.
For Gray’s description of the species, see the Nigella damascena reference page.
Also known as Hooked Crowfoot or Hooked Buttercup, this is another small and easily ignored species of buttercup. The plants favor moist woodlands, frequently in fairly dim light; they often form colonies along forest paths. This plant was growing in Bird Park, Mount Lebanon.
For Gray’s description of the species, see the Ranunculus recurvatus reference page.
A common guest in our lawns, where you might as well get used to it, because it won’t go away without a fight. Children love the reflective petals, and they look particularly poetic with raindrops on them. The plants are poisonous, but they taste so awful (we are told) that cases of poisoning by buttercup are exceedingly rare.
For a description of the species, see the Ranunculus repens reference page.
