Category: Scrophulariaceae

  • Moth Mullein (Verbascum blattaria)

    Verbascum blattaria

    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.

    Moth Mullein
    Photographed September 24 with a Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6.
  • Common Speedwell (Veronica officinalis)

    Tiny lawn weeds that reveal lavender stripes when we look at them closely. These were growing beside a sidewalk in Verona.

    Photographed May 10 with a Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.

    For a description of the species, see the Veronica officinalis reference page.

  • Moth Mullein (Verbascum blattaria), Yellow and White Forms

    White form of Verbascum blattaria

    It seems that the yellow form is the more common form in most of this species’ range, but in Pittsburgh it is rare compared to the white form, which is everywhere. We found both colors growing in a recently cleared site along the Monongahela on the South Side.

    For a fuller description, see the Verbascum blattaria reference page.

    Yellow form of Verbascum blattaria
    White form again
    Yellow again
    Yellow
  • Foxglove Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis)

    Penstemon digitalis

    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.

    Foxglove Beardtongue
  • Butter-and-Eggs (Linaria vulgaris)

    Photographed October 4 on the South Side Slopes.

    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.

    Linaria vulgaris
    Photographed October 4 in Carnegie.
    Photographed September 19 on the South Side Slopes.

    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.)

    Photographed October 4 in Carnegie.
    Seedpods, photographed September 19 on the South Side Slopes.
    Photographed October 4 on the South Side Slopes.