The Days of Summer - Day Seventy-three through Day Seventy-nine

For many people, Labor Day Weekend marked the unofficial end of summer.  I say we still have two full weeks remaining!  Here is installment eleven of The Days of Summer, my summer photography project.  If you've been following along, you've already seen parts one through ten.  If you just stumbled upon this blog for the first time...  Welcome!  You can get caught up on previous parts of the project starting here.  I started this project on the Summer Solstice (June 21st) and am photographing every day until the Fall Equinox (September 22nd).  So far I have taken more than ten thousand photos this summer, but I have only shared seventy-two images to date (one image to represent each day of my summer).

Here are the images for Day 73 through Day 79.  Enjoy!

Day 73 (01 September) - Native bee on Rudbeckia laciniata

This image of a small native bee (less than 1/4 inch long) on a Cut-leaved Coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata) was photographed late in the day in our home pollinator garden.  This image was cropped to a square to focus on the bee and flower and eliminate some of the background.

Day 74 (02 September) - Golden fields 

This photograph was taken at my go to site for photography this summer, Forest Hill Nature Area.  Goldenrods are now in full bloom.  I like several things about this image.  First the colors - golden flowers, green leaves, dark green trees, and the blue of the sky.  I also like the lines of this image - the curve of the plants in the meadow mirrored by the treeline and the radiating clouds.  Finally I like the pattern of the clouds themselves.

Day 75 (03 September) - The beginning of the end of summer

Labor Day may not be the official end of summer, but it seemed as if a switch flipped on September 1st.  Many plants that were in bloom stopped and their leaves began to change from green to yellow or brown.  This image of a Riverbank Grape (Vitis riparia) and Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum sp.) was another image taken at Forest Hill Nature Area.

 Day 76 (04 September) - A feast of thistles

This image of a male American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) was taken at Chipp-A-Waters Park.  American Goldfinches feed almost exclusively on seeds and thistles are one of their favorite sources of food.  Goldfinches have been my nemesis bird this summer.  I have not been able to get near enough to photograph one this summer.  Until now.  I started photographing this bird from about thirty feet and slowly walked up on it (never moving my camera from my eye) until I was only about five feet away.  It was fun to watch him tossing clumps of thistledown into the air as he foraged for seeds.  The hardest part was choosing which photo I liked best.

Day 77 (05 September) - In the pines, in the pines, where the sun never shines

This is another image from Chipp-A-Waters Park.  I photographed this Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus) in a pine plantation near the west edge of the park.  This image is all about light and shadow.

Day 78 (06 September) - Tag!  You're it!

Our first Monarch of 2018 has emerged from its chrysalis.  It was tagged and released into our home native pollinator garden.  As most of them do when released, it promptly flew up into a tree and perched out of sight and out of reach.

Day 79 (07 September) - Dewdrops

This morning we woke up to a world soaked with dew/fog/rain or some combination of the three.  After dropping Shara off at work, but before heading to the office, I stopped at Mill Pond Park with the hope of getting a few good images.  This picture of dewdrops on an orbweaver web was my favorite.  I did adjust both the light and color on this image - dropping down the light and bringing up the color to help the dewdrops pop out from the background.

Welcome back teachers and students!

Welcome back to school for the 2018 - 2019 school year!  For many local students today is the first day of classes.  Other students started last week.  A few (like my nieces and nephew) started the week before last.  I've been hard at work scheduling school programs.  So far I have almost three hundred programs booked for the school year.  My first school programs will be next week (unless I schedule something for later this week.  I have lots of plans for this blog this school year.  My goal is to post something new every day of the school year; I certainly have enough photographs!

For now though, I am going to answer a question that students across the nation are asked on the first day of school.

How did you spend your summer vacation?

I did not spend my entire summer indoors.

I chased birds. And butterflies.  And dragonflies.  And bees.

I was enamored by bees this summer and spent long moments watching them gather nectar and pollen from the flowers in our garden.

I watched fireflies.

I set up lights in the woods and waited for moths.

I watched clouds.

I watched sunsets and moonrises.

I sat in a lawn chair and watched a meteor shower until my neck ached.  We saw three blazing fireballs and many smaller meteors.

I sat on the front porch and watched the rain.

I took many, many photographs.  So many photographs.  Over ten thousand in all.  Some of them are among the best photos of my life.  During the process I got much better at using my camera.

I spent time with friends and family.

I laughed.  Sometimes at myself.

I talked for hours about everything.

I played games.

I stayed up late.

I slept in.

I ate some great meals.

I tried new foods.

I cooked new things.

I ate dessert.

I traveled.

I attended two concerts.

I went to a county fair.

I visited museums and archeological sites and at least on lighthouse.

I hiked in local parks and preserves.

I led hikes for other people.

I volunteered hours of my time to help remove invasive species.

I pulled weeds in gardens.

I picked up trash.

I taught about trees and forests at two summer camps.

I read a lot.  Books.  Magazines.  Newspapers.  Online journals.  Blogs.  I read about science and history.  I read science fiction and fantasy.  I read about hunting and fishing and hiking canoeing and travel.  I still have piles of books waiting to be read.

I bought new field guides.  And new copies of old field guides.

I used my field guides to identify everything from wasps to spiders to wildflowers to lichen.

I saw species that were new to me.  Mostly insects and wildflowers, but a couple birds too.

I got bit by mosquitos.  And flies.  And stung by a couple sweat bees - my fault, not theirs.

I walked through thistles and nettles and rosebushes and blackberries.

I did not get any major rashes from poison ivy.  Somehow.  I definitely walked through enough of it.

I got wet feet.

I got wet clothes.

I fell down.

I got scratches and scrapes and bumps and bruises.

I was outdoors every day this summer.

I had a great summer.

The Days of Summer - Day One through Day Nine

I've given myself a photo project.  I love nature photography, but sometimes everything else in life gets in the way and I don't take time to get outdoors and take pictures.  So this summer I decided to do something about it.  Starting with the first day of Summer (21 June) I am going to take at least one photo every day of the season and share it here.  I wish this was an original idea, but it's not.  One of my favorite nature photographers is Jim Brandenburg.  For one season (in this case Autumn), Brandenburg took only one photo per day.  A personal project to reignite his love of photography and to connect with his home ground, these photos were not originally meant to be published but they resulted in the book called Chased By The Light: A 90-Day Journey (1998).  Five years later he published a companion book titled Looking for Summer (2003).  For Looking Brandenburg did not take one photo per day as he did for Chased, but the goal was the same to connect with a place and a time. Both Chased and Looking are sitting in our living room right now - they are among the books I turn to for photographic inspiration. 

So I'm inspired... I sit typing these words on June 29th, the ninth day of summer and I have nine photographs to share.  I am not taking a single photo a day as per Chased By The Light, but I am picking a single image to represent each day.  Collectively, I hope these photos represent the season as I experience it.  Expect updates on a weekly basis from here out.

Day One (21 June 2018) - Summer Solstice

I started summer with a sunrise hike at the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy's Bundy Hill Preserve.  While I took over 200 photos that morning, this image of a pair of brightly lit broadleaf trees in a dark pine forest is my favorite.

Day Two (22 June 2018) - Mare's Tails

I am drawn to clouds - I photograph them over and over again.  A good cloud always merits a photograph.  This image of cirrus clouds was taken on the Saginaw Chippewa Reservation just east of Mt. Pleasant on my way home from work.  I noticed the clouds and pulled into a parking lot to get this image. Cirrus clouds are often referred to as Mare's Tails because of their resemblance to the curling hairs of a horse's tail.  The word cirrus actually means "a curl of hair" in Latin.

Day Three (23 June 2018) - Baby Birds

A Boston Fern on our front porch is currently home to a nest full of baby House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus).  When I took this picture, the nestlings were several days old but had yet to open their eyes.

Day Four (24 June 2018) - Raindrops on Butterflyweed

Sunday June 24th found us leaving for a trip to Chicago for a graduation party, and then on to Wisconsin and Iowa for a mini-vacation. I photographed this Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa) in our home pollinator garden while I was packing for the truck for our trip.  It had just started to rain and the flowers were covered with hundreds of tiny water droplets. 

Day Five (25 June 2018) - Wading Whooper

One of my favorite places is the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin.  We originally visited there in July 2015.  When we decided to head back to Wisconsin this summer, ICF was at the top of our list of places to visit.  During our first trip the pair of Whooping Cranes (Grus americana) stayed toward the back of their exhibit space and we barely saw them.  That almost happened again this time, but we hung around the exhibit and the birds decided it was time to feed in the pond near the viewing area.  This is not the closest image that I took, but it is my favorite of the bird in action stalking something in the pond.

Day Six (26 June 2018) -  A Row of Mounds

Our next day found us in eastern Iowa at Effigy Mounds National Monument.  I am fascinated by Native American earthworks, especially mounds.  In 2016 we visited Great Serpent Mound in Ohio and Cahokia Mounds in Illinois.  Effigy Mounds was next on my list.  These mounds are attributed to the Hopewell Culture that existed in the area approximately 1500-2000 years ago.  Although the site is best know for its effigy mounds (earthen mounds in the shapes of animals or humans) I was equally impressed by the rows of conical mounds such as this group leading up the the area known as Fire Point.


Day Seven (27 June 2018) -  Bufflehead Drake

Shara firmly believes that if a city you are visiting has an aquarium it must be visited; I tend to agree.  That's how we ended up at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa. My favorite thing was the American Paddlefish feeding (daily at 10:30AM), but my favorite photo was this one of a Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) drake at the Backwater Marsh exhibit. 


Day Eight (28 June 2018) - Moonrise

The photo for June 28th was taken back home in Michigan at the Forest Hill Nature Area.  After driving home from Iowa earlier in the day, I decided to go out to Forest Hill to watch the sun set and the full moon rise.  There were not enough clouds for a spectacular sunset, but just enough to prevent really clear photos of the moon.  Even so I really like this yellow moon in the inigo sky as barely rises above the black treeline.

Day Nine (29 June 2018) - Hope is a tree with seeds

Emily Dickinson famously wrote that '"Hope" is the thing with feathers-', but to me this tree represents hope.  It's a Green Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica).  Why does this tree give me hope?  Do you see all the dead trees in the background?  Those are also Green Ash trees.  They were killed by the Emerald Ash Borer, an invasive species that has obliterated ash populations in Michigan and across the Midwest.  Entire forests were wiped out in a few short years.

But...

The Emerald Ash Borer didn't get every tree.  Trees that were small when the Ash Borer arrived in an area were sometimes passed over as Ash Borer populations moved on to more promising feeding grounds.  These small trees are now reaching a size where they are capable of reproducing.  In a short walk at Mill Pond Park I discovered several 15 - 25 foot Green Ash trees.  The best part of the discovery; they all had seeds (hundreds of them)!  These seeds represent hope for the survival of the species as a viable component of our forests.

Summer Solstice 2018

The sun rises through the trees about twenty minutes past official sunrise.

If you were to arise at dawn every day of the year and record the point on the horizon where the sun rises you would be able to track the progression from the Summer Solstice (in which the sun rises furthest North) to the Winter Solstice (in which the sun rises furthest South) and back again.  Tracking the position of the rising sun was one of the earliest astronomical observations.  Many ancient monuments were constructed to act as solar observatories, recording the longest and shortest days of the year.  These observations were used to plan planting dates for various agricultural crops.
Today the sun reached its northernmost point on the horizon.  Officially, at 6:07 AM EST Spring ended and Summer began in the Northern Hemisphere.  This moment of change is known as the Summer Solstice.  At the same time, the Southern Hemisphere was experiencing its Winter Solstice as their Fall ended and Winter began. The word solstice comes from the Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still).  On the days surrounding the solstice, the sun appears to "stand still" for several days as it progresses neither north nor south along the horizon. 

Dawn atop Bundy Hill

Today on the Summer Solstice, with the sun at its highest position in the northern sky, we celebrate our longest day of the year.  With the sunrise at 5:58 AM and sunset at 9:24 PM, mid-Michigan will experience approximately 15 hours 26 minutes of daylight today.  By comparison, Christchurch, New Zealand (which is approximately the same latitude south of the equator as Mid-Michigan is north of the equator), will have only 8 hours 56 minutes of sunlight today.

Why does the length of daylight vary at different locations on the globe? 

It has to do with three factors:  rotation, revolution, and a tilt of 23.5 degrees.  The Earth rotates around its axis approximately once every 24 hours.  However this axis is tilted at 23.5 degrees from the vertical.  The points on the globe that the axis rotates around are referred to as the North and South Poles.  The axis is always pointed toward the same location in the sky.  The North Pole points toward the "North Star" - Polaris.

At any given time, fifty percent of the earth is in sunlight (Day) and the other fifty percent is in darkness (Night).  However, as previously mentioned, the Earth is tilted on its axis.  Because of this tilt, sunlight does not always strike the Earth at the same angle.  This means that during different seasons different parts of the Earth will receive varying amounts of sunlight and darkness.
As the earth revolves around the sun, sometimes the North Pole is closer to the sun, sometimes the South Pole is closer to the sun. 

A golden glow...

When the North Pole is at its closest, the sun lights a larger portion of the Northern Hemisphere than it does the Southern Hemisphere.  When this happens, we experience Summer in Mid-Michigan and the Southern Hemisphere experiences Winter.  During our Northern Summer, not only does the sun light more of the Northern Hemisphere, but the sun also lights every Northern Hemisphere location for a higher percentage of the day than a comparable Southern Hemisphere location. 

When the North Pole is at its furthest from the sun, we experience Winter and the Southern Hemisphere experiences Summer.  During our Northern Winter, the sun is striking a larger portion of the Southern Hemisphere than it is the Northern Hemisphere, and consequently the sun lights every Southern Hemisphere location for a higher percentage of the day than a comparable Northern Hemisphere location.  On two days of the year, the Spring and Fall Equinoxes, the sun lights the Northern and Southern Hemispheres equally and the length of day for will be the same for both. 

Waiting for the sunrise atop Bundy Hill

So how did I celebrate the Summer Solstice?  In the oldest way possible, by greeting the rising sun!  I led a sunrise hike to the top of the tallest hill around.  At 1276 feet above sea level, Bundy Hill is the tallest point in Isabella County.  It is has been protected as a nature preserve by the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy since 2016.  Unfortunately, the surrounding forest made it impossible to see the actual sunrise from atop Bundy Hill, but the trip to the top is always worth it.  When the sun finally did get above the trees I was able to capture the photos seen above.

Happy Summer Solstice 2017!

Wheat ripening on the Summer Solstice

If you were to arise at dawn every day of the year and record the point on the horizon where the sun rises you would be able to track the progression from the Summer Solstice (in which the sun rises furthest North) to the Winter Solstice (in which the sun rises furthest South) and back again.  Tracking the position of the rising sun was one of the earliest astronomical observations.  Many ancient monuments were constructed to act as solar observatories, recording the longest and shortest days of the year.  These observations were used to plan planting dates for various agricultural crops.

Today the sun reached its northernmost point on the horizon.  Officially, at 12:24 AM EST Spring ended and Summer began in the Northern Hemisphere.  This moment of change is known as the Summer Solstice.  At the same time, the Southern Hemisphere was experiencing its Winter Solstice as their Fall ended and Winter began. The word Solstice comes from the Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still).  Today the sun has reached its highest position in the northern Sky, giving us our longest day of the year.  With the sunrise at 5:58 AM and sunset at 9:24 PM, mid-Michigan will experience approximately 15 hours 26 minutes of daylight today.  By comparison, Christchurch, New Zealand (which is approximately the same latitude south of the equator as Mid-Michigan is north of the equator), will have only 8 hours 56 minutes of sunlight today.
 

Field Corn (Zea mays) requires long summer days to grow and ripen

Why does the length of daylight vary?  The Earth rotates around its axis approximately once every 24 hours.  However this axis is tilted at 23.5 degrees from the vertical.  The points on the globe that the axis revolves around are referred to as the North and South Poles.  The axis is always pointed toward the same location in the sky.  The North Pole points toward the "North Star" - Polaris.

At any given time, fifty percent of the earth is in sunlight (Day) and the other fifty percent is in darkness (Night).  However, because the Earth is tilted on its axis sunlight does not always strike the Earth at the same angle.  This means that during different seasons different parts of the Earth will receive varying amounts of sunlight and darkness.
 
As the earth revolves around the sun, sometimes the North Pole is closer to the sun, sometimes the South Pole is closer to the sun.  When the North Pole is at its closest, the sun lights a larger portion of the Northern Hemisphere than it does the Southern Hemisphere.  When this happens, we experience Summer in Mid-Michigan and the Southern Hemisphere experiences Winter.  During our Northern Summer, not only does the sun light more of the Northern Hemisphere, but the sun also lights every Northern Hemisphere location for a higher percentage of the day than a comparable Southern Hemisphere location. 

When the North Pole is at its furthest from the sun, we experience Winter and the Southern Hemisphere experiences Summer.  During our Northern Winter, the sun is striking a a larger portion of the Southern Hemisphere than it is the Northern Hemisphere, and consequently the sun lights every Southern Hemisphere location for a higher percentage of the day than a comparable Northern Hemisphere location.  On two days of the year, the Spring and Fall Equinoxes, the sun lights the Northern and Southern Hemispheres equally and the length of day for will be the same for both.

The garden is "abuzz"...

Yesterday was a typical late summer day in our flower gardens at home.

The New England Asters, Showy Goldenrod, and Zigzag Goldenrod were practically covered with various species of bees.

This is not the best photograph, but it shows the number of small carpenter bees that we covering the Zigzag goldenrod.

The bee nesting box is almost entirely full.  The larvae inside will not emerge as adults until next spring and summer.

A few of the "bees" visiting the flowers were not bees at all, such as this bee-mimicking fly on the Showy Goldenrod.

This kind of activity will continue until a hard frost kills of the blooms or the bees.

Wildflowers of 2014 - #218 through #224

The wildflower season just keep rolling on.  The following seven species were photographed at Mill Pond Park on Tuesday 26 August 2014.  I have been unable to finish writing about them until now.

Wildflowers of 2014 - #218 Nodding Smartweed (Persicaria lapathifolia)

The first species of the day is a common weed in both North America and Europe - Nodding Smartweed (Persicaria lapathifolia).  This plant is considered native to North America, but some populations are probably introduced from Europe.  It is found across the continental United States (no Alaska or Hawaii) and the lower tier of Canadian provinces/territories.  It is not common in the Southeast and most populations there are probably introduced.  The plant is typically found in wet soils.

Nodding Smartweed on a sandbar along the Chippewa River

There are fourteen Persicaria species that have been found in Michigan.  Nodding Smartweed is easy to identify by its flower head.  It is the only species that has a densely packed raceme (spike) of flowers that nod or droop downward.  The majority of other Smartweed species have erect flower racemes.  The flowerhead can be 2 to 8 inches long, but the individual flower are only about 1/8 inchlong.  The flowers have 5 tepals (petals) that rarely open completely and are white, green, or pink.

Nodding Smartweed - note the drooping or nodding raceme of small flowers

Nodding Smartweed plants can be up to 4 feet tall.  The leaves of the plant are large (2 inches wide and up to 8 inches long), lance-shaped, and are arranged alternately on the plant's stems.  The petiole (stalk) of the leaf has a sheathe that wraps around the plant's stem.

Nodding Smartweed - note alternate leaves with sheathed petiole (stalk) that wraps around the main stem

Nodding Smartweed is known by a variety of names including Willow-weed, Pale Smartweed, and Curly-top Knotweed.  Smartweeds used to be lumped with Knotweeds (Polygonum), and this plant used to have the scientific name of Polygonum lapathifolium.

Wildflowers of 2014 - #206 through #217

I spent much of last week preparing materials for the upcoming school year.  As a result, I am a little behind on writing about my wildflower finds.  The following twelve species were all found on Monday 18 August 2014 at Mission Creek Woodland Park.

Wildflowers of 2014 - #206 Swamp Thistle (Cirsium muticum)

The first flower of the day was the third thistle (Cirsium) species that I found this year - Swamp Thistle (Cirsium muticum).  Unlike species #150 Canada Thistle (C. arvense) and #178 Bull Thistle (C. vulgare), Swamp Thistle is native to Michigan.  As its name suggests, Swamp Thistle is found in wet soils along shorelines, riverbanks, sedge meadows, and conifer swamps (rarely hardwood swamps).  It is found across eastern North America.  This species is not listed  for Isabella County on the Michigan Flora database.

Swamp Thistle in a typical habitat (cedar swamp)

Swamp Thistle is easy to identify.  It grows to a height of 2 to 10 feet tall.  The stems of the plant have few spines along their length.  The plant's leaves are deeply lobed and arranged alternately along the stem.

Swamp Thistle - a closer view of the plant's leaves and stem

The plant is a biennial and flowers in its second year.  The flower is the distinguishing characteristic of this plant.  Swamp Thistle flowers are flat-topped, purple-pink, and arrange either singly or in a group of 2-5 flowers at the top of the stem.  The flowers are at the top of a rounded bract.  What makes this thistle distinctive is the lack of spines on the bract.  This plant flowers from mid-Summer into fall.

Swamp Thistle - note the lack of spines on the flower's bracts

Wildflowers of 2014 - #200 through #205

The late-Summer/Fall wildflowers have begun to bloom.  I missed the start because of my vacation so now I have some catching up to do.  On Friday (15 August 2014) I visited Chipp-A-Waters Park and recorded the following six species.

Wildflowers of 2014 - #200 Wild Cucumber (Echinocystis lobata)

When I started this project in April, I was hoping to find 200 species before the end of the growing season.  On August 15th, I found my 200th species - Wild Cucumber (Echinocystis lobata).  It took 127 days to get from Wildflower #1 (Skunk Cabbage) to Wildflower #200.

Wild Cucumber - note the lobed leaves and erect flower spikes

Wild Cucumber is a native vine that can be up to ten feet long.  It either trails or climbs by wrapping tendrils around nearby objects.  The tendrils that allow it to climb emerge from the plant's leaf axils.  The leaves of the plant are arranged alternately along the vine.  Each leaf has five pointed lobes and resembles a maple leaf.

Wild Cucumber leaf - note lobes and toothed margins

The flowers of Wild Cucumber also grow from the leaf axils.  The male (staminate) flowers are arranged on in groups on erect spikes.  The flowers have six white petals.  The female flowers are inconspicuous and grow individually or in small groups.

Wild Cucumber flowers - female (lower left) and male (on spike)

Wild Cucumber grows in moist habitats such as wet woodlands, thickets, and floodplains.  It grows across much of the United States (40 states) and the lower half of Canada.  It can be found in about two-thirds of Michigan's counties and is present in both the Upper and Lower Peninsulas. 

Wildflowers of 2014 - #201 Narrow-leafed Goldenrod (Euthamia graminifolia)

The next flower that I found is one of several species of "Goldenrod" that are currently in bloom in Mid-Michigan - Narrow-leafed Goldenrod (Euthamia graminifolia).  This species is also known as Grass-leaved Goldenrod due to its narrow leaves or as Flat-topped Goldenrod due to its flat topped flower panicles (branched clusters).

Narrow-leafed Goldenrod (Euthamia graminifolia)

Like most species of Goldenrod, Narrow-leafed Goldenrod is a late-Summer/Fall blooming plant with small golden-yellow flowers.  The individual flowers are small, measuring about 1/8th inch across, but the panicles measure several inches across.

Narrow-leafed Goldenrod - a closer view of the flowers

Narrow-leafed Goldenrod prefers moist soils.  It is often found growing intermingled with other Goldenrod species in meadows, along shorelines, in ditches, etc.  It ranges across much of North America.  In Michigan it has been recorded in all but eight counties - interestingly Isabella County is one of those eight counties.

Several years ago Narrow-leafed Goldenrod was reclassified.  It was formerly known as Solidago graminifolia, but has now been placed in a separate genus (Euthamia).

Wildflowers of 2014 - #202 Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis)

The third wildflower of the day was Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis).  Also known as Common Goldenrod, this species is found throughout almost all of the United States and Canada, with the exceptions of Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, and Nunavut.  It grows in a variety of open habitats in both wet and dry soil conditions.  This is the species that most people think about when they hear the word goldenrod.

Canada Goldenrod - note one-sided flowering branches and alternate leaves

Canada Goldenrod can reach heights of 1 to 6 1/2 feet.  It has leaves that are arranged alternately along the stem.  The leaves are typically narrow (linear, oval, or elliptic) and may be up to 6 inches long.  The flowers are arranged in a pyramid-shaped panicle (branched cluster) at the top of the plant.  The branches of the panicle curve upward and outward from the stem before then curving downward.  The small (1/8 inch) flowers are arranged in a line on the upper side of the branches.  The panicle may be up to 16 inches tall.

Wildflowers of 2014 - #203 Field Sow-thistle (Sonchus arvensis)

The fourth species of the day is one of many species that have flowers resembling those of dandelions.  But unlike dandelion plants, which are low growing, Field Sow-thistle (Sonchus arvensis) plants may grow to be 7 feet tall, but are usually 2 1/2 to 3 feet.  This plant is not native to North America but has naturalized across the majority of the United States and Canada.

Field Sow-thistle resembles an overgrown dandelion

Field Sow-thistle has yellow flowers that look like those of dandelions.  The flower heads are 1 1/4 to 2 inches across and are composed entirely of  disc flowers with not rays (petals).  Each flower head is composed of between 150 and 300 individual ray flowers.  The flower heads are arranged in a flat panicle. 

Field Sow-thistle - a closer view of the flower heads

The plant's leaves also look like those of dandelions, but have prickles at the tip of each lobe.  The base of each leaf has a pair of rounded lobes that clasp the plant's stem.  The leaves are normally found only on the lower half of the plant.

Field Sow-thistle - note how leaf margins are edged with prickles and how leaves clasp the stem

Wildflowers of 2014 - #204 Virgin's Bower (Clematis virginiana)

The next species of the day was Virgin's Bower (Clematis virginiana).  This native vine climbs to a height of 6 to 10 feet.  The leaves on the plant are arranged in alternate pairs.  Each leaf has three pointed oval leaflets with toothed margins and a notched base. 

Virgin's Bower - note serrated margins of leaves

The flowers of Virgin's Bower are white, 3/8 to 5/8 inch across, and grow in flat topped panicles.  Individual plants may have all male (staminate) flowers, all female (pistillate) flowers, or both staminate and pistillate flowers.

Virgin's Bower - this plant contains both male (staminate) and female (pistillate) flowers

Virgin's Bower typically grows in moist habitats such as floodplains, wet forest edges, swamps, etc.  It is found throughout the eastern half of North America, east of a line running south from Manitoba to eastern Texas.

Wildflowers of 2014 - #205 Jumpseed (Persicaria virginiana)

The final flower of the day is another native plant - Jumpseed (Persicaria virginiana).  This plant is also known as Virginia Knotweed.  This plant is sometimes listed as Polygonum virginianum.  It is native to the eastern half of the United States and Canada.  Mid-Michigan is at the northern edge of its range.

Jumpseed (Persicaria virginianum) growing next to bridge abutment at Chipp-A-Waters Park

Jumpseed plants grow from 1 to 4 feet tall, with the majority of the height being a flowering raceme (spike).  The leaves of the plant are arranged alternately on the lower part of the plant.  Individual leaves may be 6 inches long and 3 inches wide, oval shaped, with a pointed tip.

Jumpseed - note alternate leaves and flowering raceme

The flowers of Jumpseed are small (1/8 inch).  The flowers are white or whitish-green (rarely pink) and have four pointed petals.  There is normally only one flowering spike per plant but that spike may branch.

Jumpseed - a closer view of the flowering raceme showing an individual flower with its four petals

This plant is named Jumpseed because when ripe the plant's seeds may be propelled up to 10 feet away from the parent plant when disturbed. (Another plant that can propel its seeds is the Spotted Touch-me-not.)