HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE This guide is designed to help you recognize some of the flowers, grasses, trees, and critters that live in the River Garden. Use this as a record of what you observe - write in it, pin pictures in it, sketch in it. We encourage you to use sight, smell, and touch in the garden to identify different flowers, grasses and trees. Please do not pick the plants, as you will be removing them from their home. If you need assistance, the ranger will be able to answer your questions.
FIELD GUIDE TO THE FLOWERS, TREES, GRASSES AND CRITTERS OF THE RIVER GARDEN.
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CONTENTS 4 Bald Cypress 6 Blue Mistflower 8 Brown-Eyed Susan 10 Eastern Redbud 12 Mockingbird 14 Monarch Butterfly 16 Prairie Dropseed 18 Rattlesnake Master 20 Red Maple 22 Sideoats Grass 24 Spotted Phlox 26 Tennessee Coneflower 28 Wood Thrush 30 Terms Key: FLOWER
GRASS
TREE
CRITTER
BALD CYPRESS Taxodium distichum var. distichum Long-limbed, pyramidal conifer (cone-bearing tree) which grows 50-70’ tall. In summer, it is “bald” as the common name suggests. Trunks are buttressed (flared or fluted) at the base. Soft, feathery, yellowish-green foliage (1/4” long, flat needles in two ranks) turns an attractive orange/cinnamon-brown in fall. Rounded, wrinkled, 1 inch diameter, purplish-green cones mature to brown.
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TREE
FIELD NOTES: Heavy, straight-grained, rot-resistant wood has been used for a variety of purposes including barrels, railroad ties and shingles.
BLUE MISTFLOWER Conoclinium coelestinum This perennial plant is 1-2½’ tall. The stems are light green. The opposite leaves are up to 3” long and 2” across; they have short slender petioles. Each cluster of flowerheads spans about 1-3” across. Each flowerhead has about 40-50 disk florets that are pink, lavender, or blue. Each floret has a tiny tubular corolla with 5 spreading lobes. Around the base of each flowerhead, there are several floral bracts (phyllaries); they are light green and linear in shape. The branches underneath each flowerhead cluster are light green.
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FLOWER
FIELD NOTES: This wildflower attracts bees and butterflies. Bloom time is July to October.
BROWN-EYED SUSAN Rudbeckia triloba This is a densely-branched plant that typically grows to 2-3’ (less frequently to 5’) tall. Daisy-like flowers (up to 1 1/2” diameter) featuring 6-12 yellow rays and brown-purple center disks. Leaves are thin and rough-textured on both sides. Some of the leaves are 3-lobed (less frequently 5- or 7-lobed). Lower leaves are ovate to ovate-cordate with long petioles, and upper leaves are less rounded and sessile.
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FLOWER
FIELD NOTES: “Late bloomer” - blooms later than most other Rudbeckia species. Bloom time is July to October.
EASTERN REDBUD Cercis canadensis Understory tree with a rounded crown that typically matures to 20-30’ tall with a slightly larger spread. It is particularly noted for its stunning pea-like rose-purple flowers which bloom on bare branches in early spring before the foliage emerges. Flowers (up to ½” wide) bloom in clusters of 4-10. Flowers are followed by flattened bean-like dry seedpods (up to 2-4” long) that mature to brown in summer. Alternate, simple, cordate, broadly ovate to nearly orbicular, dull green to blue-green leaves (3-5” across) have a papery texture and are short pointed at the tip.
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TREE
FIELD NOTES: Makes a great perch for song birds and butterflies. Bloom time is April.
MOCKINGBIRD Mimus polyglottos A medium-sized songbird, a bit more slender than a thrush and with a longer tail. Mockingbirds have small heads, a long, thin bill with a hint of a downward curve, and long legs. Their wings are short, rounded, and broad, making the tail seem particularly long in flight. Mockingbirds make their presence known. It usually sits conspicuously on high vegetation, fences, or telephone wires, or runs and hops along the ground.
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CRITTER
FIELD NOTES: Mimics sounds it hears.
MONARCH BUTTERFLY Danaus plexippus Monarch butterflies are known for their incredible mass migration. North American monarchs are the only butterflies that make such a massive journey—up to 3,000 miles. The insects must begin this journey each fall before cold weather, which will kill them if they wait too long. A black spot on the inside surface of the male Monarch’s hind wing distinguishes it from the female Monarch butterfly. These butterflies use their eyes to locate flowers, they use their antennas to smell the nectar and receptors lodged in their feet called “tarsi” come in handy to taste sweet substances. 16
CRITTER
FIELD NOTES: Caterpillars are voracious eater, capable of consuming an entire milkweed leaf in less than five minutes. Lifespan is 6 to 8 months.
PRAIRIE DROPSEED Sporobolus heterolepis Fine-textured, hair-like, medium green leaves (up to 20” long and 1/16” wide) typically form an arching foliage mound to 15” tall and 18” wide. Foliage turns golden with orange hues in fall, fading to light bronze in winter. Open, branching flower panicles appear on slender stems which rise well above the foliage clump in late summer to 30-36” tall. Flowers have pink and brown tints, but are perhaps most noted for their unique fragrance (hints of coriander). Tiny rounded seeds drop to the ground from their hulls in autumn giving rise to the descriptive common name.
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GRASS
FIELD NOTES: Favorite food of grasshoppers. Bloom time is August to October.
RATTLESNAKE MASTER Eryngium yuccifolium Features basal rosettes of parallel-veined, bristly-edged, sword-shaped, medium green leaves (to 3’ long) resembling those of yucca (lily family) and tiny, stemless, greenish-white flowers tightly packed into globular, 1” diameter heads resembling thistles. Flower heads appear in branched clusters at the top of smooth stiff stems typically rising to 3-4’ (less frequently to 5-6’) tall from the centers of the rosettes. Flower heads are subtended by whitish, pointed bracts.
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FLOWER
FIELD NOTES: Named for the common use of treating rattlesnake bites. Bloom time is June to September.
RED MAPLE Acer rubrum Medium-sized that typically grows 40-60’ tall with a rounded to oval crown. Emerging new growth leaves, leafstalks, twigs, flowers, fruit and fall color are red or tinged with red. Leaves (to 2-5� long) have 3 principal triangular lobes (sometimes 5 lobes with the two lower lobes being largely suppressed). Lobes have toothed margins and pointed tips. Leaves are medium to dark green above and gray green below. Flowers on a given tree are primarily male, female, or monoecious and appear in the late winter to early spring before the leaves. Fruit is a twowinged samara.
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TREE
FIELD NOTES: Red, red, red - this tree is known for its beautiful colors. Bloom time is March to April.
SIDEOATS GRASS Bouteloua curtipendula Noted for the distinctive arrangement of oat-like seed spikes which hang from only one side of its flowering stems. Narrow, bluish-gray leaf blades (up to 1/4” wide) typically form a dense clump growing 1-1.5’ tall. Foliage turns golden brown in autumn, sometimes also developing interesting hues of orange and red. Inflorescences of purplish-tinged flowers appear on arching stems above the foliage in early to mid summer, typically bringing the total height of the clump to 3’ tall. Inflorescences fade to tan as the seeds mature.
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GRASS
FIELD NOTES: Larval host plant for the Green Skipper & Dotted Skipper butterflies. Bloom time is July to August.
SPOTTED PHLOX Phlox maculata It is an upright, clump-forming, with strong slender unbranched stems, typically grows 2-3’ tall. Sweetly-aromatic, 5-lobed, pinkish-purple flowers (up to 1/2” across) with long corolla tubes arranged in large clusters on top of stiff, upright, redspotted stems. Leaves are lance shaped with smooth or finely toothed edges and sharply pointed tips. The glossy blades are 2-4” long and less than 1” wide. They are rounded at the base and have no petioles.
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FLOWER
FIELD NOTES: Attractive to butterflies, birds and hummingbirds. Bloom time is August to October.
TENNESSEE CONEFLOWER Echinacea tennesseensis A daisy-like coneflower which features slightly upturned, rosepurple petals (ray flowers) and spiny, coppery center disks with a green tinge. Flowers grow on rigid stems up to 2.5’ tall, with dark green, linear foliage.
FIELD NOTES: Echinacea = greek word for hedgehog/sea urchin. Bloom time is June to August.
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FLOWER
WOOD THRUSH Danaus plexippus The Wood Thrush’s pot-bellied body, short tail, straight bill, big head, and upright posture give it the profile of a scaled-down American Robin. Identified by their warm reddish-brown above and white with bold black spots on their underparts. All have a bold, white eye ring. Forages mostly on ground, usually in forest undergrowth but occasionally on open lawns. Will use its bill to flip leaf-litter aside as it seeks insects. Feeds on berries up in shrubs and trees.
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CRITTER
FIELD NOTES: “This is the only bird whose note affects me like music. It lifts and exhilarates me. It is inspiring. It changes all hours to an eternal morning.” Henry David Thoreau
TERMS basal rosettes | a crown of leaves radiating from a stem. bract | a modified leaf or scale, typically small, with a flower or flower cluster in its axil. corolla | the petals of a flower, typically forming a whorl within the sepals and enclosing the reproductive organs. florets | one of the small flowers making up a composite flower head. inflorescence | the complete flower head of a plant including stems, stalks, bracts, and flowers. ovate | having an oval outline or ovoid shape, like an egg. panicles | a loose, branching cluster of flowers, as in oats. petioles | the stalk that joins a leaf to a stem; leafstalk. phyllary | one of the bracts forming the involucre or the head or inflorescence of a composite plant. sessility | parts that have no stalk - flowers or leaves are borne directly from the stem. umbels | a flower cluster in which stalks of nearly equal length spring from a common center and form a flat or curved surface.
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FIELD NOTES:
Six Miles. Five Park Districts. One Memphis. REFERENCES Arbor Day Foundation Groundswell Design Group Illinois Wildflowers Missouri Botanical Garden National Audubon Society National Geographic New Moon Nursery U.S. Department Of Agriculture