I imagine most gardeners have seen this annual alien wildflower weed. I also imagine most gardeners lacking a proper name use a bit of “French’ when they refer to it. It is an extremely prolific seed producer that can send off thousands of tiny seeds on the wind in a single season. Since each one seems to germinate in my garden my ‘French’ also gets carried away on the breeze. So in an effort to clean up America’s air waves let me give you the proper name of this weed while I zip my lips.

Galinsoga cilata

When life gives you Galinsoga boil it. The plant is edible, so if it’s sitting in your garden saying bite me, do just that after boiling it in water for about 5 minutes. Supposedly it tastes like spinach but I can’t confirm it. What I can confirm is the plant’s hairy nature if you take a close look.

Quickweed is a member of the Daisy family. The flowers are tiny, about a quarter inch across and the 5 rays are divided into 3 lobes. They’re actually pretty if you can get past the weed bit.

The very tiny seeds are encapsulated with an attached pappus that allows them to be carried by the slightest breeze. It was a still day with little or no wind so it must have been my breath that kept blowing them off my finger.

…and now for something completely different

How about a face full of cat? Look out, Stewy is ready to leap.

From cats

Open fields and full sun usually come to mind when thinking about Goldenrods and Asters. One usually doesn’t think about going to the woods to them. But one would be wrong, both families have a member that lives in the shadows.

Zigzag Goldenrod – Solidago flexicaulis

AKA: Broad Leaved Goldenrod is smaller than it’s full sun cousins. It grows up to 3 feet high according to my field guides but I rarely see any over a foot high. Leaves are very broad, pointed at the tip and strongly tapered in the back.

The stems lend themselves to the common name – Zigzag. At each leaf attachment the stem angles off in an overall zigzag pattern.

Zigzag Goldenrod flowers generally have 3 – 4 rays. The flowers form small clusters in the upper leaf axils with a larger terminal cluster.

…and now for a little something else that grows in the woods. This plant to is reported to grow up to 3 feet tall but once again I’ve rarely seen one over a foot high.

Whorled Wood Aster – Aster acuminatus

From above it does look like the leaves grow in a whorl.

Looking from the side – the leaves are alternate and hardly spaced but definitely do not grow from the same spot in a true whorl. Also note this plant also has a zigzag stem.

The flowers are a bit different than the full sun Asters too.
They don’t have as many rays and they’re kind of floppy looking too.

It’s not that I ran out of mushrooms but I thought to get these into my wildflower collection before I forgot them. Besides they’re much easier to identify than the fungi I find.

Jack stands out when its berry pod ripens. The scarlet red berries are eye magnets in the subdued colors of the woods. Unlike spring when Jack’s flowers can easily go unnoticed in late summer you can spot Jack a ‘mile away’.

Jack in the Pulpit – Arisaema triphyllum

Jack in the Pulpit flowers are rather shy and hide their naughty parts from prying eyes. With a spathe (the pulpit) that wraps around and covers the spadix (Jack) it is easy to walk right by this wildflower even when it is in bloom.

A Shy Flower

Tantalizing isn’t it?

Why Jack instead of Jacqueline? I speculate it’s Jack because the spadix, especially in young plants is mainly made up of male naughty bits. Only after the males start to wither and die do the females expose their naughty bits. The flowering succession inhibits inbreeding but also makes it necessary to invite a third party to the reproductive dance. Jack’s pulpit is a warm smelly place that attracts the type of clientele most mothers wouldn’t tolerate. The main pollinator of Jack in the Pulpit are low life sh(eye)t kicking flies. I don’t know about you but that all that sounds like a male kind of thing to me.

…and speaking of male things. How about I lift up a skirt so we all can take a peek.

Jack in the Pulpit Spadix

Now that I’ve had my fun it’s time to go back to the woods. It’s the story of how Jack managed to fool me twice. Shame on me. I know wildflowers are where you find them no matter what a field guide may say. There are always exceptions to the rule and it should be no surprise to find things where they don’t belong.

The first time I was surprised by Jack was last year when I found him growing on the top of a stonewall. This year he surprised me again when I found he was still there and getting ready to plant his seed. I was glad to see him claim a niche on an inhospitable landscape. Accumulating over the years decaying forest litter has created a nice little place to grow roots.

Jack in the Pulpits need a rich humus soil that stays moist. They prefer the shady woods but I’ve also seen them in full sun areas where the ground never gets bone dry. Jacks in sun have long faded away by now while in the moist shade of the woods the plants are just now starting to lose their leaves. Here’s Jack in all his glory. I don’t know if it’s nature, nurture or a combination of both that’s responsible for raising this fine upstanding Jack.

Stonewall Jack has the best set of berries I’ve seen this year.
…and it’s been a good year for Jack berries.

berry nice set

The other berry pods aren’t quite as endowed but there’s plenty of them out there. I just may collect some and scatter the seed myself a little closer to home.

…and what was Stewy doing? Not much, just standing around. It wasn’t much of an adventure for him because we spent most of the time in a very small area around the stonewall. Multiple mushrooms, a couple of lichens and moss covered rocks all calling out for a close examination kept me from wandering.

are you ready yet?

So there’s Jack. Now can I get back to the fun guys? I want to introduce you to a rot causing fungus.