The white petals and yellow “eye” are really the ray and disc flowers of this perennial, composite flower, Leucanthemum vulgare.

Large groupings of this old time perennial are often seen along the highways. Photo taken 10 June 2010.

Ready for cut flowers in a vase.

Leaves are sparse and very narrow with widely separated pointed teeth.

Like many of the composites this wild daisy can be mowed over and it will regenerate another set of flowers.

It’s a tall plant that reaches 4-8 feet tall, with a few individuals getting up to 12 feet tall. This weedy alien plant blooms for a few weeks with very small white flowers in rounded clusters or umbels.

One day while traveling down a country road, I asked my friend to pull over so I could get a closer look at this flowering roadside weed. Since there were so many of these plants in many places I yanked one up to bring it home for a better look. When I brought it back to the car my driver said, “Hey, don’t bring any poisonous stuff in here!” I’m not sure why that was said as I have littered the car with plant specimens many times before, so I retorted with a quick, “Of course, not!”

After arriving home I consulted Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide to identify the roadside weed. Well, luck would have it that the flowers with five parts, having alternate, divided leaves, and white flowers in umbels indicated this weed to be Poison Hemlock, Conium maculatum. OMG! When I asked my friend why she said what she said, she replied, “It just looked like poison!”

I have to admit the whole plant had this wierd smell. It was a funky smell that might be described as acrid or dank, kind of like wet dirty socks. A week later I stopped at a parking lot to get some pictures of the weed. Where the edge of an empty field met the gravel of the parking lot, the Poison Hemlock grew prolifically there. The smell was undeniable.

Poison hemlock growing in an open area at the edge of a parking lot.

Phew! No wonder flies pollinate this stinky stuff!

Many small white flowers, less than a quarter-inch across, held in umbels.

Several umbels are already setting seed while other umbels are blooming.

The rounded umbels of poison hemlock make it easy to spot along fence rows.

In the photo above the foreground flowers are oxeye daisies and the white flowers in the background are poison hemlock.

The smell alone should alert anyone that this plant shouldn’t be ingested, but every year several people try it anyway. Why anyone would think a white and purple blotched “carrot” is an edible one is the mystery. We all know their tap roots are orange!

Cohorts of poison hemlock at the parking lot were sumac, daylilies, oxeye daisy, purple loosestrife, nightshade, blackberries, common mullein and crown-vetch.

The large compound or divided leaves appear rather lacy or fern-like and they clasp the main stem, sheathing it. Purple blotches or spots are highly visible on the substantial stems, especially at the base.  This plant may look sort of like wild carrot, but the tap root is white with purple spots and streaks, not orange. Do not attempt to eat any Parsley Family members without assured identification. Death may result!

A single compound leaf of poison hemlock. Note the purple stem coloration.

A single leaflet, one of three, of poison hemlock.

Pencil rubbing of partial leaflet of Poison Hemlock.

Close-up view of poison hemlock flowers held in umbels.

Photos taken 10 June 2010.

The small bracts underneath the umbels are entire. Another member of the Parsley Family, Wild Carrot or Queen Anne’s Lace, Daucus carota, has divided bracts that are deeply and narrowly lobed.

If you remember your history lessons, poison hemlock was used to kill the famous philosopher Socrates back in ancient Athens. A very small amount ingested can cause death. Take caution and realize that the  juice from the plant can cause dermatitis. I didn’t suffer any rash or itching after I handled it, but some people might be sensitive to it. Do not handle if at all possible. If pulled up, use gloves and do not put in compost heap or the seeds may come back to haunt you. Dispose in plastic bag in the garbage.

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Purple Coneflower, a perennial garden favorite. Photo taken 7 July 2010.

Purple coneflower is a perennial that can be invasive in the garden or flower beds as the plentiful seeds of this composite family member will sprout the following year into many small plants. To keep flower beds tidy most of the volunteers will need to be pulled up. Successive years brings more growth as the plants get larger and larger. Older plants have more blossoms and they’re taller with flowering stalks up to five feet tall.

Purple coneflowers consist of light pink to deeper pink to lavender ray flowers and dark orange disc flowers. Some flower heads have petals that are distinctly swept back, while others mature to that position after having started out with a more horizontal look.

The cone of disc flowers starts out as a flat disc and as the outer disc flowers mature they grow in size which has the effect of pushing up the center of the disc, making the obligatory cone shape. When all the disc flowers have bloomed, the central disc truly is a cone-shaped coneflower. We let the cones overwinter as they serve as a food source for goldfinches, cardinals and tufted titmice.

Two species of Echinacea are common. Echinacea purpurea, known as Purple Coneflower, and Echinacea pallida, the Pale Purple Coneflower. The two echinaceas are very similar, but they can be differentiated by their lower leaves. E. purpurea has toothed, long-stalked leaves, whereas E. pallida has parallel-veined leaves that are toothless.

Toothed leaves of Echinacea purpurea. Photo taken 7 July 2010.

Young composite flower head of Echinacea purpurea. Photo taken 8 June 2010.

Bracts, stems and leaves are all rough to the touch because of the presence of small stiff hairs.

Swept back petals of Purple Coneflower with its orange disc flowers. Photo taken 30 June 2010.

Supposedly the Pale Purple Coneflower has lighter petals that are more pink than the darker Purple Coneflower’s reddish-purple petals. I wouldn’t use the petal color as a way to identify the species though. Judging by the progeny of one Purple Coneflower plant over several years, there is a lot of variation in the color of petals.

Pink petals of a young Echinacea purpurea flower. Photo taken 30 June 2010.

Different color varieties of the Purple Coneflower are available for your garden at local and online retailers. Here’s a coupon for Henry Fields $10 Off $30 Order at Henry Fields. When you get there, search for ‘coneflower’ to see their Coneflower Mix — a perfect naturalizing perennial in a delightful mix of pink, purple, white and yellow blooms!

These black raspberry fruits were juicy and delicious. Photo taken 15 June 2010.

Fruits of the two closely related berries are similar, but the raspberries have a hollow center while blackberries do not.

The black raspberry is more desirable as it has fewer and smaller seeds than blackberries do. The taste is similar, but the blackberry might be a little more tangy.

On 27 June 2010 I ate the first handful of large juicy wild blackberries for 2010. The particular cane that provided me with a snack had been mowed over so most of the berries on the cane were killed off early. The cane must have been able to put all its efforts into growing the few fruits that remained. Also, the ripe berries were right next to the ground, so they probably had a little help in the form of heat coming up from the gravel lane. Most of the canes hold their berries two or three feet off the ground.

Juicy ripe blackberries.

Blackberry fruits retain their stem so they don’t have a hollow center like raspberries do. Photo above taken 29 June 2010.

Most blackberries don’t ripen much by the beginning of July. At first a few turn from bright green to green with a pale tinge of red. They turn a brighter red before darkening completely.

The heat of July brings on the ripening of the blackberries in earnest. This year has turned out to be quite dry, so the berries may be drying up before they ripen. If we don’t get some rain soon, our plans for making blackberry jelly may have to change.

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About a dozen plants of Whorled Loosestrife blooming in the open woods.

Cohorts include Spotted Touch-Me-Nots and blackberry vines. Photo above taken 8 June 2010.

Flower buds project well over the whorled leaves, one flower for each leaf.

Whorls have typically four leaves and flowers but on the mountain ridge here we often see whorls of five. More rarely plants will have whorls of three. Photo above taken 31 May 2010.

Flowers and leaves in whorls.

In the photo above taken 31 May 2010 the Whorled Loosestrife plant on the left has five leaves per whorl and the one on the right has four leaves per whorl.

The flowers are truly star-like with five golden-yellow petals. Each has red dots around the center of the flower.

Sumac berries and a powder made from crushing the berries have a lemony-taste or citrus flavors.

Here are a few links where folks are sharing their recipes for using sumac in cooking —

• sumac spice
• tomatoes with sumac
• za’atar spice blend with sumac
• sumac in Greek cuisine
• cooking with staghorn sumac

The citrus-like flavor should go great with meats and vegetables. I haven’t tried any yet, but I fully intend to pick some berries for my kitchen when they are ripe.

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The trumpet-like flowers have a long bell with four flaring petals in white with tones of lavender. The flower buds are a rosey-pink to lavender color. Photos below taken on 8 Jun 2010.

Clusters of small trumpet-like flowers held above pairs of narrow leaves.

Narrow, strap-like, sessile leaves are opposite one another on branching stems that barely reach ten inches tall.

Longleaf Summer Bluet, Houstonia longifolia, may also be known as Long-leaved Bluet. Its flowers are in small clusters and are more trumpet-like than the flowers of Bluets, which are not in clusters. Bluets have a way of holding their yellow eyed flowers up to the sun that the Longleaf Summer Bluet lacks. Its flowers are often held out to the sides.

Longleaf Summer Bluets bloom among the grass in the lawn.

In parts of New England the native Longleaf Summer Bluet is considered threatened. It is listed as endangered in Connecticut and Massachusetts, it’s of special concern in Maine, and it appears only in historical records in Rhode Island, which means the Longleaf Summer Bluet may already be extirpated there.

We seem to have plenty of the long-leaved bluet here on our mountain ridge in PA, but I haven’t seen it anywhere else.

The Audubon North American Field Guide to Wildflowers describes Fragrant, Poison, Smooth, Staghorn and Winged Sumac in Eastern North America. Smooth, Poison and Fragrant Sumac all have smooth twigs. To be sure, Poison Sumac leaflets are not toothed and its berries are white.

Fragrant Sumac, Rhus aromatica, is a little different in appearance as it only has three leaflets to its compound leaves, where the other sumacs have many more leaflets, like 9 to 31 leaflets.

Smooth Sumac, Rhus glabra, is definitely smooth on the twigs and the many leaflets are untoothed. The leaf stems have a nice blush of purple on them. (Photo of smooth sumac taken on 30 June 2010.)

Smooth sumac berry cluster and several leaves with many untoothed leaflets.

Winged Sumac can be differentiated from Staghorn Sumac by the presence of a winged midrib between the leaflets of its pinnately compound leaves. Leaflets are untoothed in Winged Sumac.

Staghorn Sumac, Rhus typhina, seems to be the primary species of Sumac in our area. Characteristics that mark this sumac are its hairy twigs, toothed leaflets, and reddish hairs on berry-like fruits. Flowers are green in terminal clusters.

Compound leaves of Staghorn Sumac with many pairs of toothed leaflets.

Cluster of green flowers and hairy twigs of Staghorn Sumac. Flowers are just beginning to open.

Another view of Staghorn Sumac blooming. Photos above taken 6 June 2010.

A type of pink lemonade can be made from the ripe red berries of Staghorn Sumac in the summertime. Peterson’s Edible Plant Guide says to bruise the berries, soak for 15 minutes in cold water, strain out the hairs and berries with cheesecloth, sweeten and chill.

Does anyone out there feel adventurous enough to try sumac lemonade? Let us know how you make out!

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Appropriately named Mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum, starts blooming in the beginning of May. A single large white flower about two inches across blooms underneath the cover of one or two large leaves. The leaves seem to protect the flowers kind of like an umbrella. Check out some nice photos of Mayapple flowers in an earlier post about this native woodland plant.

Mayapple fruit at the fork of two large umbrella-like leaves.

Photo above taken 6 June 2010.

A single ripening fruit juts out from between the fork of two Mayapple leaves. I’m not sure what blight caused the yellow spots on the leaves of this Mayapple, but when the foliage is dying back it sometimes happens. Into July we can find mayapples turning yellow even though much of the foliage has already withered away.

The fruit is edible and can be enjoyed as a refreshing cold drink. One year I picked a handful of yellow fruit, cut them up and squeezed out the liquid in to a glass of ice cubes. I expected more of a citrus taste as Peterson’s Edible Plant Guide suggested the juice could be added to lemonade. Without sugar it would have been too tart and bland at the same time. At the very least Mayapple fruits are a survival food packed with vitamin C.

Three-petal bloom of the Asiatic Dayflower.

In the photo above taken 6 June 2010, the thinner stem to the left of the larger stem on the right is that of the Asiatic Dayflower. Note the oval pointed leaves and the sheath that houses the flower until blooming time.

A related plant called Virginia Dayflower, Commelina virginica, has three blue petals and otherwise the flower appears the same as the Asiatic Dayflower. The Virginia Dayflower is native to Eastern North America, but it’s very rare compared to the alien Asiatic Dayflower.

Dayflowers are named appropriately as they bloom for only one day, so they’re no good for cut flower arrangements.

Leaves are linear-veined, pointed ovals that sheath the stem. These plants spread by laying down their stems and rooting at the leaf nodes. This reclining habit also helps to differentiate the Asiatic Dayflower from the native dayflowers, which grow in an erect posture.

Asiatic Dayflowers photographed here were growing along the upper west lane near blackberries in a partially shaded area with Spotted Touch-Me-Nots.

Much better pictures of the Asiatic Dayflower can be seen in an earlier post about it blooming in South-central PA.

Peterson’s Edible Plant Guide indicates the dayflowers are edible and may be enjoyed by adding young stems and leaves to salads or using them as cooked greens.