This report is written by Lorraine Anderson (lorraine@bwca.cc). She is part of a group of three seniors that have been looking at wildflowers in Cook County, Minnesota. They have gone out almost every Wednesday for over 20 years and love it, even in the winter. But of course there aren't any flowers in the winter!!

Wednesday Wildflower Report: July 9, 2003
After coffee we went to Cougar Trail to the red pine forest to see if we could see our last years "Mystery Plant" seedpod. Cindy Butler had written us that she thought it was Pinesap. Since we have never seen that here or anywhere before we keep on checking the area but - nothing. Next we went to the Superior Hiking Trail on #6 and went west. On the way back we saw the largest bunch of Early Coralroot? Yellow Coralroot? (During lunch we checked our books and decided it was Early or Northern Coralroot). This seems to be a good year for them.
Someone had asked us to check out a plant on Artist Point, near the Butterwort - so there we went. We saw lots of Potentilla tridentata (Three-toothed Cinquefoil) and lots more Harebells than we remember. The Potentilla fruiticosa was so cheerful with it's yellow flowers. We see them growing on the dry rocks there and also in Limbo Beach bog. Maybe it'd the clear overstory that they need.

Flowers we found Blooming:

Alyssum, Hoary - Berteroa incana
Avens, Yellow - Geum aleppicum *
Bedstraw, Northern - Galium boreale *
Blackeyed Susan -Rudbeckia serotina *
Bluebells - Mertensia paniculata
Blue-eyed Grass - Sisyrinchium ssp.
Buckwheat, Climbing False - Polygonum scanclens
Bunchberry - Cornus canadensis
Buttercup, Tall or Common - Ranunculus acris
Caraway - Carum carvi
Chickweed, Common - Stellaria media
Cinquefoil, Rough - Potentilla norvegica *
Cinquefoil, Three-toothed - Potentilla tridentata
Clover, Hop - Trifolium agrarium *
Clover, Purple, Pink - Trifolium ssp.
Clover, Sweet, Yellow - Melilotus officinalis
Columbine - Aquilegiaa canadensis
Columbine, Garden or European - Aquilegia vulgaris
Coralroot, Early or Northern - Corallorhiza trifida
Daisy, Ox-eye - Chrysanthemum leucanthemum
Dogbane, Spreading - Apocynum androsaemifolium
Harebell - Campanula rotundifolia
Hawkweed, Orange - Hieracium aurantiacum
Hawkweed, Yellow - Hieracium scabrum
Heal-all - Prunella vulgaris *
Iris, Blue Flag - Iris versicolor
Linnea, Twinflower - Linnea borealis
Lupine - Lupinus polyphyllus
Lychnis, Evening - Luchnis alba *
Meadow Rue, Tall - Thalictrum polygamum
Parsnip, Cow - Heracleum maximum
Pineapple Weed - Matricaria matricarioides * rub it in your fingers and it smells like pineapple
Pea, Beach - Lathyrus japonicus
Pitcher-plant - Sarracenia purpurea
Rose - Rosa ssp.
Silverweed - Potentilla anserina
Stitchwort, Lesser or Starry - Stellaria graminea *
Trefoil, Bird's-foot - Lotus corniculatus
Vetch, Purple - Vicia americana
Yarrow - Achillea millefolium

Trees & Shrubs we found Blooming:

Ash, Mountain, American - Sorbus americana
Cranberry, Highbush - Viburnum trilobum
Dogwood, Red-osier - Cornus stolonifera
Honeysuckle, Bush - Dievervilla lonicera
Lilac, Common (Old fashioned) - Syringa vulgaris
Maple, Moose or Mountain - Acer spicatum
Thimbleberry - Rubus occidentalis

* - new this week