While looking for reptiles and amphibians in a Missouri glade in October, I saw a fair number of pale purple flowers in bloom. This is a North American species of wild onion that is native to central Canada and the central United States. It prefers dry, rocky soil.

Prairie Onion is a one-to-two foot tall chive-like perennial forming tufts of slender, solid leaves and stems. The leaves have a distinct oniony smell when bruised and often die back by the time the plant flowers in mid to late Summer. The leaves are important for the plant’s energy production.

Each plant has a single cluster at the end of a long, naked stem. The 1-1/2 to 2-inch round group of 1/4-inch flowers, are pale pink to deep pinkish purple, sometimes white, with a spot of yellow in the center and long yellow-tipped stamens. The rounded flower clusters are known as umbels.

The root system consists of a bulb with unusually deep secondary roots for such a small plant. This, no doubt, promotes survival during dry weather. The bulbs of wild onions have a strong flavor but can be eaten raw or parboiled. Early explorers ate them, and they were also used by settlers to treat colds, coughs, and asthma, and to repel insects.

Sometimes known as Autumn Onion, this plant has a delicate beauty when in bloom, resembling a starburst effect.

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I saw several examples of this very cool plant on my latest adventure to Illinois and Missouri. The Partridge Pea is found in the eastern United States, excluding Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire. A member of the Legume Family, like other legumes, it is a nitrogen-fixing plant, with microorganisms helping to produce the nitrogen compounds necessary for the plant to survive. The microorganisms inhabit root nodules, which provide them with a safe habitat, while giving the plant access to the nutrients.

Partridge Pea’s leaves consist of 10 to 15 pairs of small, narrow leaflets that are somewhat delicate to the touch. Like other members in its family, the plant displays nyctinasty, wherein the leaves open and close in response to day and night cycles.

This is considered an important honey plant, often occurring where few other honey plants are found. Nectar is not available in the flowers, but is produced by small orange glands at the base of each leaf. Ants often seek the nectar and are frequent visitors. Partridge Pea’s seed is one of the major food items of Northern Bobwhite and other quail species, because it remains in sound condition throughout the Winter and early Spring.

Partridge Pea thrives in areas that have been burned recently before declining in numbers in the following years. It is a pioneer species, growing densely in depleted sites that cannot support other plants. It is considered an excellent choice for planting in disturbed areas, as it will quickly cover an area, preventing erosion, while still allowing other plants to become established.

Hanging from this species, the fruit is a flat green pod that closely resembles a vegetable you may have in your garden. These pods will slowly brown until they are mature, eventually falling into the soil to become their own individual plant. The flowers have yellow anthers that produce reproductive pollen, and purple anthers that produce food pollen, but no nectar. Long-tongued bees such as bumblebees, honey bees, long-horned bees, and leafcutting bees pollinate the flowers.

This was a really neat native plant to come across on my travels.

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It was hard not to notice the large, distinct flowers of this plant as I walked along railroad tracks in southern Illinois. Native to eastern North America, this vine is often cultivated for its attractive, reddish orange flowers. It can escape cultivation, sometimes colonizing so densely it seems a nuisance, its habit has earned it the names Hellvine and Devil’s Shoestring.

Trumpet Vine’s rapid colonization by suckers and layering makes it useful for erosion control. Its magnificent flowers never fail to attract Ruby-throated Hummingbirds within its range. Adapted to eastern forests, Trumpet creeper grows tall with support. This plant climbs by means of aerial rootlets and can reach a height of up to 35 feet.

This plant’s three inch flowers are long, tubular and reddish-orange with a yellowish throat and bloom in the Summer for about three months. The flowers are followed by large seed pods. As these mature, they dry and split and hundreds of thin, brown, paper-like seeds are released.

Trumpet Vine’s habitat is bottomland forests, open woods, banks of streams and rivers, cliffs, pastures, old fields, fencerows, thickets, waste places, roadsides, railroads, and other disturbed areas. It is well-adapted for disturbed areas, and it is commonly seen growing on telephone poles along roadsides. or in this case, along train tracks.

Some people develop a skin rash after touching this plant, so another common name for it is “Cow-itch.”

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While hiking in Mingo National Wildlife Refuge in Missouri, I noticed this familiar-looking flower. Though rather than being tall, like the six foot plus Autumn Sneezeweed in my backyard, it was growing low to the ground.

This upper-branching native annual reaches 10 to 20 inches tall. The entire plant has a strong odor and is bitter to the taste. The leaves are narrow and located alternately on the stem.

A member of the Sunflower Family, Bitter Sneezeweed has showy flowers that are noticeable in the late Spring or Summer and are located at the end of each branch. Each bloom has about eight petals that often bend downward at maturity.

This genus is primarily found growing in sandy soils in the southeastern to southcentral United States, from Virginia to Florida west to Missouri, Kansas and Texas.

With a Latin Name of Helenium amarum, the genus name comes from the Greek name helenion, which honors Helen of Troy. It is unclear as to the relevance of Helen of Troy to the within genus of plants which are exclusively native to North and South America.

Bitter Sneezeweed’s species name, amarum means “bitter” in Latin. Also known as “Bitterweed,” this plant is named in reference to it containing a toxic substance which causes milk to taste bitter when cows graze on its foliage.

The common name of “sneezeweed” is reportedly in reference to the former snuff-like use of the dried and powdered flowers of this plant by members of some Native American tribes for treatment of blocked sinuses.

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While visiting a glade habitat in Missouri in search of reptiles and amphibians, it was hard not to notice this very distinctive plant. This member of the Aster Family has enormous leaves, as rough as sandpaper, with beautifully scalloped edges featuring coarse teeth.

The leaves of Prairie Dock tend to orient in a north-south direction. That is, the broad part of the blade faces east and west, to maximize sunlight for photosynthesis. This adaptation also minimizes water loss due to transpiration.

Even when it’s very hot out, its leaves feel cool to the touch.

Its flowers attract long-tongued bees, including Honeybees, Bumblebees, and Miner Bees. Other flower visitors include Halictine Bees, Bee Flies, and the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird. It typically blooms from July through October.

Prairie Dock is a very tall (sometimes over eight feet) perennial plant, with a nearly leafless flower stalk. Not only does the plant extend high into the air, it also has a long taproot that grows deep into the soil.

This adaptation is beneficial, because this plant’s environment is often hot and dry, and the deep taproot allows the plant to reach water. This feature also helps the plant persist despite grazing and mowing. With so much energy reserves stored underground, sending up new shoots is not that costly for the plant.

With the Latin Name of Silphium terebinthinaceum, the species name means “with turpentine” and refers to the resin, which gives this plant a pleasant, spicy scent.

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While walking on the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath, I noticed pink splotches of color in an otherwise mostly green field. It was a new wildflower to me that I don’t recall ever coming across before.

Its eye-catching display of pink, gold and magenta attracts the human eye as effectively as it attracts bees for pollination. What makes this flower unique is its central lime-green star, outlined in magenta.

This plant can grow up to three feet tall and has stout, square, smooth stems. Each Rose Gentian has many branches that can bear a multitude of flowers. It occurs naturally throughout much of the eastern United States.

It prefers low, moist areas at the edges of rocky, open woods and fields where it has exposure to the sun. It tends to grow in loose groups rather than tight clusters. Rose Gentian’s leaves are stalkless, opposite, and broad-oval to heart-shaped; they are about an inch and a half long.

After flowering, its flower stalks may become brown while its seed capsules remain green. The seed capsules, are about 1/3 inch long, lack internal partitions and contain many tiny seeds that can be wind dispersed or carried by moving water.

Rose Gentian’s scientific name is Sabatia angularis – it is named in honor of Liberatus Sabbati, an Italian botanist and gardener in the 1700s. Its flowers are sweet-scented and long-lasting.

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While on a hike in Missouri, I noticed this eye-catching plant growing in a dry field. It has a flower that resembles the brightly patterned blankets of Native Americans.

Another possibility for its common name is that it refers to the plant’s habit of “blanketing” the ground in areas where it thrives. Either way, this colorful wildflower is much loved by bees, which are drawn to its bright petals.

The plant also happens to be a food source for caterpillars of the brilliantly colored Gaillardia Flower Moth and Painted Schinia – these insects have wing patterns and colors that mimic blanketflower’s petals.

Blanketflower is often found on the dry slopes and meadows of uplands and mountains. It is drought tolerant and capable of growing under very harsh conditions. It prefers full sun.

Its flowers are typically bicolored with an inner red band surrounded by an outer yellow band. However, they can also be entirely red or yellow, have an inner band surrounded by a white band, or, on rare occasion, be entirely white or yellow.

With the Scientific Name of Gaillardia aristata, the genus Gaillardia was dedicated in 1788 in honor of the early French botanist Gaillard de Charentonneau. Aristata means “bearing bristles” in botanical Latin, in reference to the rough hairy leaves and stems.

Blanketflower has flowers to three inches in diameter, and very hairy, light green, elongated leaves. It typically grows to about a foot tall. This was a neat find on my trip.

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This is a cool member of the Aster Family that I saw on my visit to southern Illinois last month. It is a late Summer-to-Fall blooming herbaceous perennial that is native to the Eastern United States.

Also known as Wild Ageratum, it bears fluffy-looking, delicate flowers that are colored in pastel shades of pink, lavender or blue; it often occurs in large stands.

Mist Flower occurs in bottomland forests, swamps, the banks of streams and rivers, the edges of ponds and lakes, marshes, ditches, gardens, railroads, roadsides and shaded-to-open disturbed areas.

Butterflies, Skippers and Long-tongued Bees are strongly attracted to the flowers. Other insects eat the foliage. Not many mammals eat this plant, because of its bitter taste.

Other occasional visitors include Short-tongued bees, various flies, moths and beetles. These insects primarily seek nectar, although the bees often collect pollen as well.

Mistflower is often grown as a garden plant, although it does have a tendency to spread and take over a garden. It is recommended for habitat restoration within its native range, especially in wet soils.

This plant is closely related to the white-flowered Bonesets.

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On my travels to southern Illinois this past Autumn, I came across this neat native wildflower growing along some railroad tracks.

Small White Morning Glory favors disturbed habitats like prairies, thickets, the gravelly bars of streams and banks of lakes, moist meadows near rivers or woodlands, abandoned fields, areas along roadsides and railroads and miscellaneous waste areas.

The “Morning Glory” name is applied because these flowers, which can be especially glorious when large numbers are blooming, will close up later in the day as the bright sun shines on them. Each flower is about one inch wide.

Small White Morning Glory’s heart-shaped leaves are often crimson-edged and it relies primarily on its vining habit to disperse into new areas. Its vines range from 3 to 10 feet in length.

The flowers of the Small White Morning Glory attract primarily bumblebees and other longer-tongued bees for its nectar.

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While visiting a sand prairie in Missouri this month, these yellow flowers were quite noticeable.

Camphorweed is an annual, warm-season native that generally emerges from the ground as a single stem, then branches several inches above the ground.

As the common name suggests, camphorweed has a medicinal camphor-like aroma (or odor, as some might suggest), particularly when the leaves are disturbed.

Camphorweed is beneficial for use on sprains or bruises and can reduce pain, swelling, and inflammation. Camphorweed lessens the reactive inflammation process, making it best for acute and painful injuries.

This plant typically blooms in Summer and Fall, although in certain conditions it may bloom year-round. Its copious blooms consist of bright yellow ray florets and vivid yellow to orange.

Sometimes known as Golden Aster, it is commonly found across the southeastern United States. Its daisy-like yellow flowers with hairy stems and leaves are often overlooked in fields and yards.

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