Lance Leaf Coreopsis

Repost, last year same time, and yup - the clock of the world is running on time, complet with washout rain.

Common: Lance Leaf Coreopsis

or Lance-leaf tickseed

Coreopsis Lanceolata

Family: Asteraceae

The family Asteraceae or Compositae (known as the aster, daisy, or sunflower family) is the largest family of flowering plants in terms of number of species (and are noted for complex centers, each containg many "micro" flowers)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteraceae

all Pics, May 6, 2008, Highway 64 just east of Conway, AR

Because of the "lancing" each Lance Leaf Coreopis appears to have many petals, however, each flower comes with only eight.

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=COLA5

Red Clover (looks purple to me)

(2009 Repost) 

The same person who named the Redbud tree must have named Red Clover. As is, in the last month I got a number of hits to this site for folks looking for name of the really red clover that grows along our highways. They should know that that is Crimson clover, while this pale purple substitute, is "Red"

More info to be posted.

Honey suckle

Recycle from 2008 (As of May 3, the patches are not as thick as the big-patch pictures, but are quickly headed that direction.)

It was with no small disappointment that I learned a few years back that the Honeysuckle is not regarded by many naturalists as a wonderful thing. At least not as it makes its home in more and more American woodlands.

As a kid I earned how to pull the pistil of the Honeysuckle out the back and trough the tube of the flower -- then touch a drop of watery nectar to my tongue. Wallah.. hidden honey.

Now I've learned that this plant (sometimes called Japanese Honeysuckle or by the Latin name "Lonicera japonica" is of Asian origin and has few natural predators. If left unchecked, it can choke out native species.

For more info:

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/wildlife/resources/mgtplans/invasives.htm

http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/loja1.htm






Yellow Honeysuckle (Lonicera flava) (native varitey)

Privet (Wild Prvet, Privet Hedge)

"Wild" Privet

Ligustrum (ovalifolium)?

Family: Oleaceae

Recycle from 2008 (As of May 2nd, not all the the bushes are this advanced, but they are coming on full force, and folks will want to know what they are.)

Look anywhere around Arkansas, and you are bound to see Privet as part of our highway underbrush. For the most part Privet is "invisible" till it blooms in May then shows us just how much of it there is. For those of us who love its fragrance, Privet is a wonderful thing. (Some folks find them too fragrant. Oddly, They seem most potent at night when you can't see them.)

Privet is a European or Asian transplant, and invasive. But it isn't only found on the roadside. With a little pruning Privet can be "made" a tree, or more commonly, a hedge.
For unwild uses see: http://springhillnursery.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_66517


You can see a huge stand of "wild" Privet on the North Little Rock Hill, where Interstate 40 and Interstate 30 merge, near JFK. But its pretty much everywhere, though often mixed and merged with concurrent blooming Honeysuckle. (Honeysuckle runs yellowish, but at a distance Privet and Honey-Suckle often look alike ... Except that Privet spikes into the air, and is its own thing, rather than a vine.

For more on Privet see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privet
For more on the Oleaceae family (which includes olives) see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleaceae

Pink Evening Primrose

Pink Evening Primrose
(Recycle, from May 1, 2008)


Speaking about clockwork, all of these images were taken in the first days of May... across three separate years.

Location: Conway, AR entrance ramp, and I-40 between Maumelle, AR and the I-430 exchange.
The pink eveing primrose is part of a much larger Primrose family, some wof which look much different than the flower pictured here. A quick survey of the Primrose family suggests that a common element may be the striking four pronged pistil.
As is, the Pink Evening Primrose is built on a 2/4/8 symmetry.
Each bloom appears to have four major petals, which in turn are divided into two symetrical halves. The two halves together form something of a heart. (When viewed from obove, the bloom --with four squat hearts, can look kind of squarish) Each bloom comes with eight stamen, with yellow pollinated anthers. The four-pronged pisitl shoots out of the central well, with a dirct feed to the seed chamber about a half-inch below.

These things are heavy pollinators, marking my clothes whith thick sploches of yellow. They appear to grow in patches, and the individual clusters often form in of a dome (with the older growth at the center lifted slightly higher.)

Rosa Multiflora

To be honest, I am not sure this next bush and close-up are of a "Rosa Multiflora". The bloom clusters are not as tight. But if not a multiflora, it's pretty close.

(Recycle, as I am seeing all manner of wild rose -- and garden variety - pop out everywhere)

Wild Rose Bush (Rosa Multiflora)

First week of May, 2008

I've been taking pictures of blooming things for some time, but I have never seen as many wild “bush” roses that I have seen in this last week. I am not sure if that is because I never stopped to photograph them (they are a photographic challenge) or, if with recent rains there are just more of them.

Everywhere I look I am seeing bushes, hedges, and tendrils exploding with wild white roses.

As is, I am not sure if all of the rose covered bushes are of the same species, or simply family variations. The flowers at top appeared more clustered than those shown lower.

For more on wild rose groupings see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Rosa_species

Common White Clover

Common White Clover (Recycle from 08)

Most of us think of a clover as "a" flower, but close inspections shows us that each little clover is actually a ball of little flowers.

Lyre Leaf Sage

LYRE-LEAF SAGE (Lyre Leaved Sage)

Salvia lyrata

Family: Mint (Labiacea)

Perennial

http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SALY2

Lyre-leaf sage is a strictly upright, hairy perennial, 1-2 ft.
tall. Its pale-blue to violet, tubular flowers are arranged in whorls around the stem forming an interrupted, terminal spike.Whorls of 3-10 lavender to blue flowers surrounding a square stem in an interrupted, spike-like cluster. Large basal leaves are purple-tinged in the winter.
The exposed lower lip of salvias provides an excellent landing platform for bees. When a bee lands, the two stamens are tipped, and the insect is doused with pollen.

Possible medical uses:

http://www.hsl.unc.edu/Collections/MedicinalGarden/LyreSage.htm

Black Locust (Smellr 2)

Robinia pseudoacacia

Info to follow