Flora And Fauna:Wild Flowers

Yarrow

 * Achillea millefolium
 * To 40 in. (1 m)
 * Flowers are white to pink
 * Leaves are fern like

Pokeweed

 * Achillea millefolium
 * To 10 ft (3 m)
 * Grows in fields and waste areas
 * Berries are toxic when raw but cooked juice is edible. The seeds remain toxic after cooking.
 * Berries were used for ink making

Canada Mayflower

 * Maianthemum canadense
 * To 6 in (15 cm)
 * Perennial
 * Has 1 to 3 leaves
 * Cluster of white flowers held above the leaves
 * Berry fruit becomes red and translucent when ripe

False Solomon Seal

 * Maianthemum racemosum
 * To 2 ft (60 cm)
 * Perennial
 * Leaves elongated and alternating
 * Round fruit turns red when ripe

Daisy Fleabane

 * Erigeron strigosus
 * To 5 ft (1.5 m)
 * May be annual or biennial
 * Name derived from the belief that the dried plants repelled fleas
 * Flowers are white, pink or lavender and have yellow disk

Stinging Nettle

 * Urtica dioica
 * To 4 ft (1.2 m)
 * Touching plant hairs produces burning sensation

Jack in the Pulpit

 * Arisaema triphyllum
 * To 3 ft (90 cm)
 * Herbaceous perennial plant
 * Curving hood ("Pulpit") covers over fingerlike central stem ("Jack")

Starflower

 * Trientalis borealis
 * To 8 in (20 cm)
 * Perennial

Goldenrod

 * Solidago genus
 * To 5 ft (1.5 m)
 * Perennial
 * Large clusters of small yellow flowers that appear from the end of summer until frost
 * Grows in open meadows, on the side of the road, in garbage areas
 * Produces golden yellow dye

New England Aster

 * Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (formerly Aster novae-angliae)
 * To 7 ft (2.1 m)
 * Perennial
 * Gold disk florets at tip of stems, surrounded by 30 or more ray florets that are purple, lavender, or light pink
 * Long leaves alternating along central stem and side branches which are covered with short white hairs

Bracken Fern

 * Pteridium aquilinum
 * To 5 ft (1.5 m)
 * Perennial
 * Instead of leaves, ferns have what are called fronds, subdivided in leaflets with small pinnae.
 * Bracken fronds are shaped like triangles
 * Grows in large colonies

Cinnamon Fern

 * Osmundastrum cinnamomeum
 * To 3 ft (90 cm)
 * Likes moist and marshy soil
 * Spreads by spores made on smaller cinnamon-colored frods

Common Milkweed

 * Asclepias syriaca
 * To 6 ft (1.8 m)
 * Stem and leaves produce a white latex when broken

Joe-Pye Weed

 * Eutrochium genus
 * To 7 ft (2.1 m)
 * Occurs naturally in moist and very wet soils, but also tolerates garden soil that is not too dry
 * Was used by New England healer Joe Pye to treat a variety of ailments, therefore the name

Jewelweed

 * Impatiens capensis
 * To 5 ft (1.5 m)
 * Juice from stems can be used as rubbing treatment for skin that had poison ivy contact

Skunk Cabbage

 * Symplocarpus foetidus
 * To 2 ft (60 cm)
 * Huge leaves rise directly from ground
 * Foul smelling flower attracts insects
 * Prefers wetlands, river banks

Cattail

 * Typha latifolia
 * To 10 ft (3 m)
 * Wetland plant