Wildflower ID Update.

There are a number of flowers to add to my list. I've had some pretty good success over the last few days. As I've explained before, I don't ID in the field. I take photographs as I'm walking or biking and then try to look them up later when I get home. I've been using the Iowa DOT resources I mentioned before, and also utilizing a LOT of google image searches to try to find photos that look like mine. This has worked well in some cases and is not helpful in others.

Yesterday, I received this guidebook: Grassland Plants of South Dakota and the Northern Great Plains by James R. Johnson and Gary E. Larson. It was recommended to my by a friend. Within the first five minutes of opening the package and flipping through a few pages, I IDed Birdsfoot Trefoil! I had found this plant while bicycling along my road a few weeks ago. It is not native, naturalized from the Mediterranean Basin.

Birdsfoot Trefoil, Lotus corniculatus

The second ID from the Grasslands book was Cup Plant. This was found at Botna Bend Park. I'd seen it there walking before, and I assumed it was the same thing as the Compass Plant I'd seen on my road, which I hadn't IDed at that point. Earlier this week, I went walking again at Botna Bend with my husband, after having IDed Compass Plant, and I was excited thinking I was going to be able to point it out and tell him what it was. But I was so wrong. The leaves were COMPLETELY different. I was beside myself. I didn't have a lot of hope in finding out what it was without an ID book because there are so many kinds of sunflowers and yellow asters (see this Wikipedia article). You can see in the photo that the leaves are connected and form a "cup" around the stem. That is where it gets its name. It is native.

Cup Plant, Silphium perfoliatum

The third ID so far from the book was Goatsbeard. I knew that's what it was, but the book confirmed it for me, so I can confidently ID it. It is not native. This one was found at Botna Bend:

Goatsbeard,  Tragopogon dubius

Additional recent IDs are as follows:

Milk-vetch, native. Found along a trail at Ledges State Park.

Milk-vetch, Astragalus Canadensis

Purple Coneflower, native. Found at Botna Bend. This one I needed no guidebook to ID, it just took me awhile to actually find one!

Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea

Ironweed, native. Found at Botna Bend. This one just came into bloom in the last week and now I'm seeing it everywhere.

Ironweed, Vernonia fasciculata

Common Mullein, not native. Found at Ledges State Park. I cannot claim this as my ID because my friend told me what it was. In any case, here it is:

Common Mullein, Verbascum thapsus

And finally, Germander, native. Also found at Botna Bend.

Germander, Teucrium canadense

And many more to come.