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your_comforting_company
03-07-2010, 08:26 PM
Seeing lots of little flowers in bloom makes me say "What is that" everywhere I go. Well this is one that I've been seeing all my life, but dunno what it is. Anyone care to take a guess?

flowers are purple and white with purple spots on lower lobes. 5 sepals, one united petal divided into 3 lobes. 4 fused stamens (2 long and 2 short), single pistil with two long styles. ovary is superior and produces a 4 chamber "nutlet". Leaves kidney shaped and coarsely toothed, opposite on a square stalk.

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/your_comforting_company/plants/DSCN2723.jpg

flowers strongly resemble lobelia or loosestrife.

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/your_comforting_company/plants/DSCN2719.jpg

It's a confusing one for me. I'm guessing gill-over-the-ground

Rick
03-07-2010, 08:32 PM
Gill-Over-The-Ground perhaps. It's a bit hard to tell from the pictures.

Rick
03-07-2010, 08:36 PM
Henbit for sure.

http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publications/wfiles/W165.pdf

your_comforting_company
03-07-2010, 09:12 PM
wow. definately henbit. How'd you find it so easy? I'm still learning this whole botany thing. Just got Elpel's book Botany in a Day. I did narrow it down to the mints but the flower was throwing me off big time.
Thanks Rick. You da man!

Ted
03-07-2010, 10:33 PM
Henbit?.....never heard of it and it's not in my Peterson guides!

Thank you gentelmen!

your_comforting_company
03-07-2010, 11:39 PM
not in any of my guides either. I gotta get that audobon wildflower book.

Ted
03-13-2010, 01:47 PM
Yeah I have a wild flower guide to and it not in it either!

You know guys, my yard is coverd with what I always thought was "gill" but never really checked it out,or ate it sooooo, I'll have to make a positive ID here in a couple weeks. Thanks again!

Rick
03-13-2010, 07:03 PM
In other news....Ted was found belly up this week after ingesting hemlock. Family members said they thought it was odd when he poured a bottle of salad dressing on the grass.

your_comforting_company
05-25-2010, 07:00 AM
Got another one that's got me kind of stumped.

Alternate leaves are spatulate to round, long petioles, margins entire. leaves slightly wavy, or curled. slightly pubescent (fuzzy).
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/your_comforting_company/plants/DSCN4150.jpg

flowers pea-like, featuring the banner, and wings, but no visible keel. yellow with very light veins. flowers 3/4" or less wide.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/your_comforting_company/plants/DSCN4148.jpg

Flowers in dense clusters, in a ball shape. clusters form in leaf axils.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/your_comforting_company/plants/DSCN4149.jpg

Not sure exactly how to describe the root. Not many fibrous roots, and the tap appeared to be a running rhizome, although there were no more of this plant nearby, and it was the only one I observed on the whole plantation.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/your_comforting_company/plants/DSCN4151.jpg

I'm pretty sure it's some sort of ground nut, or bean, or pea, but the lack of a keel and pinnate leaves is making this one a challenge to ID. It just doesn't seem to fit any tight pattern, and I can't find a similar plant in any of my books.
Any and all help is appreciated.

preachtheWORD
05-25-2010, 09:27 AM
Not sure I can help ID anything, but I will throw something out for you guys to ID.

http://i928.photobucket.com/albums/ad124/preachtheWORD/IMG_3238.jpg?t=1274793716
And another pic:
http://i928.photobucket.com/albums/ad124/preachtheWORD/IMG_3239.jpg?t=1274793781

The root is mostly bulb-like, and layered, but not rounded like an onion - more straight like a leek. The leaves and bulb did not have any smell at all, or very little (so that rules out ramps, which is what I thought it might be at first). It made me think of some kind of lilly or even a lady slipper. Looked more like a lady slipper than anything, but it seemed too big, and not in the right location. This was in a clearcut area on the side of a long slope. It was also more plentiful than lady slipper usually is around here. Ideas?