Pyrola americana Also flowering in June is another member of the Wintergreen Family: Round-leaved Pyrola. This low-growing, creeping perennial has shiny green leaves arranged in a rosette. Each leaf is 1 to 2 inches in length, rounded at the tip, and strongly veined. Several blooms are born on a spike (raceme). The hanging, white flowers…
Category: White flowers
Thimbleweed or Tall Anemone
Anemone virginiana Here’s another great Virginia wildlflower! I first found this plant in flower on a walking trail (edge habitat) near my house in early-June. At the time, there were only a couple of small flowers to be seen and it looked like they were all past their prime. I had no idea what it was,…
Pale-Spike Lobelia
Lobelia spicata This small-flowered lobelia has striking white to pale blue flowers that are borne on an unbranched stem (12-36 inches). The alternate leaves are ovate to spatulate, narrower at the base than at the tip. They tend to occur on the lower part of the stem, and some may form a loose basal rosette–…
Ragged Fringed Orchid
Platanthera lacera Here’s a lovely native orchid blooming now, in mid-June. I found this one growing in a hay field at Heritage Park in Blacksburg. It is fairly common on the east coast, although this is my first time ever seeing it. I was pretty excited to find it 🙂 ! Two common names for…
Fly Poison
Stagger Grass, Crow Poison, or Fly Poison Amianthium muscaetoxicum Look here– a lovely flower with a poisonous punch! Fly Poison is blooming right now in the higher elevations at Mountain Lake, in Giles County. This plant contains neurotoxins that are deadly enough to kill livestock. All parts of the plant are toxic, especially the bulb. …
Tassel Rue
Trauvetteria carolinensis In late spring and early summer, look for Tassel Rue growing along the banks of mountain streams. I recently spotted it at two of my favorite hiking places along the Blue Ridge Parkway: Rock Castle Creek Gorge and Crabtree Falls. The small flowers of tassel rue grow in a panicle at the top…
Prince’s Pine or Pipsisewa
Prince’s Pine, Pipsisewa, Wintergreen, or Waxflower Chimaphila umbellate This is a very attractive native perennial that can be found in dry, mountain woodlands growing along side other kinds of wintergreen (like Striped Wintergreen , Round-leaved Pyrola, or American Wintergreen). Prince’s Pine has shiny-green, leathery, whorled leaves that are toothed. The pink to white flowers are waxy-looking…
Striped Wintergreen or Pipsissewa
Chimaphila maculata Such a dainty, intriguing flower! I’ve been stalking it for a month now, waiting for it to come into bloom. Finally! Here it is in June at Pandapas Pond, near Blacksburg. This perennial evergreen herb is another forest floor inhabitant that could easily go unnoticed due to its size. In flower it is…
Indian Pipe
Ghost Flower, Corpse Plant, or Indian Pipe Monotropa uniflora This wildflower lacks chlorophyll and is non-photosynthetic. In order to obtain carbon, it forms a parasitic relationship with mycorrhizal fungi that grow on tree roots. Indian pipes are found in rich, moist woods where there is a lot of leaf litter. There is one flower per…
Painted Trillium
Trillium undulatum Oh, where do I start with this uncommon wildflower? The coppery-green leaves? The undulating tips of the dainty white petals? The glamorous scarlet blaze at the flower’s center? Maybe I should just say, “This little trillium is a real showstopper!” Like all the trillium species, the leaves, petals, and sepals of painted trillium…
Sulfur Cinquefoil
Rough-Fruited Cinquefoil or Sulfur Cinquefoil Potentilla recta Another “introduced species”, this tall flower of pastures, roadsides, and railroads has spread across the entire United States. In some states it is considered a noxious weed. Sulfur cinquefoil flowers are usually soft yellow, but sometimes they are white. Each of the 5 petals is shaped like a…
American Lily-of-the-Valley
Convallaria majuscula Until now, I did not know that Lily of the Valley grows wild in the Appalachian Mountains! The form that most of us know, the garden variety, was imported from Europe and then popularized in American gardens. But this species–the wild one- is a few degrees different, and it is appropriately called American Lily-of-the-Valley. First…
Bladder Campion
Silene vulgaris Here’s a very tall, perennial plant that is new to me! Look at those balloon-like flowers! They occur in clusters of up to 30 flowers at the top of a single flowering stalk. The 1-inch flowers have 5 white petals, but each petal is split to look like two. The sepals behind the…
Moth Mullein
Moth Mullein Verbascum blattaria Look for this biennial plant, June through September, in pastures, meadows, and along roadsides. It can grow up to 5 feet tall! The photos above show the leaves arranged on the flowering stem in an alternate pattern, without petioles and gently clasping. These leaves are elliptic and slightly toothed. The dazzling…
Oxeye Daisy
Leucanthemum vulgare or Chrysanthemum leucanthemum Here’s a flower that everyone knows: the daisy! There are several daisy-like flowers in our area, but this one, Oxeye Daisy, is probably the most common in fields and along roadsides in late spring and summer. Blooms can last for up to a month, making daisies a ubiquitous part of…
Bowman’s Root
Indian Physic, Fawn’s Breath, or Bowman’s Root Gillenia trifoliate The five narrow petals on this white flower protrude from the center in an irregular fashion. Perched atop dainty red stems, the blooms appear to just float in the air! Spent flowers are replaced immediately by bright red calyxes. The bushy plant grows 2 to 3 ft….
Foxglove Beardtongue
Penstemon digitalis Foxglove Beardtongue, Foxglove Penstemon, or Beardtongue These showy, native wildflowers appear from April to June in sunny or partially sunny locations. They grow from 3 to 5 ft. tall in brilliant masses; this group was photographed along the side of the road at Primland in Meadows of Dan. The two-lipped, tubular flowers are borne on…
Mountain Laurel
Kalmia latifolia Run, don’t walk! Put on your hiking shoes and head up any Appalachian mountain trail (right now!) in May and June and you will be rewarded with gorgeous Mountain Laurel blooms. This evergreen shrub can put on a spectacular display, since it varies in height from 3 to 15 feet and forms thick…
Canada Mayflower
Maianthemum canadense Although Canada Mayflower is considered a northern species, it can be found growing in Virginia in the higher elevations of the the Appalachian Mountains. The plants pictured here were photographed along the ridge top of Salt Pond Mountain (near Mountain Lake) and also along the banks of Big Stoney Creek in Giles County….
Galax
Galax urceolata Wandflower, Galax, or Beetleweed The white spikes of galax rise up like magic wands in late May and June in the woodland forests of Appalachia. The tall spikes can grow 1 to 2 feet high over a basal rosette of shiny green leaves. The flowers wave gently in the breeze, earning this plant the…
Cliff Saxifrage or Michaux’s Saxifrage
Saxifrage michauxii Delicate white flowers with red and yellow dots are dancing in the mountain breeze at Mountain Lake in Giles County! Cliff Saxifrage lives in the tiny cracks between the rocks on Bald Knob, elevation 4,300 ft. Head out for a hike and see this unusual plant in bloom–in late May and June!
Speckled Wood Lily or Black-bead Lily
Clintonia umbellulata There are two Clintonias blooming now in forests in Southwest Virginia. One has yellow flowers and one has white flowers. Speckled Wood Lily (or Black-bead Lily) is the common name of the white version. The large leaves of this plant are oval-shaped and might put you in mind of the Pink Lady’s Slipper orchid. These leaves tend to grow in…
White Baneberry
Doll’s Eyes or Baneberry Actaea pachypoda The compound leaves of baneberry are toothed and pinnate, similar in some ways to black cohosh in appearance. The white flowers appear mid-spring in a dense cluster at the top of a stem. The flowers give way to small berries later in the summer. When fully ripe, each berry…
Pussytoes
Antennaria Antennaria: This is a difficult genus, containing several species in our area. Since I’m not a botanist, I am going to stop at the genus level here and simply say that all the flowers on this page are members of the genus, Antennaria, or Pussytoes! Don’t you LOVE the name? Soft and wooly, with white…
Wild Comfrey
Cynoglossum virginianum The genus name for Wild Comfrey, Cynoglossum, can be translated as “dog’s tongue”. The name refers to the shape of the plant’s leaves, which are ovate to narrowly elliptical, smooth on the edges, and 2 to 8 inches long —just like a dog’s tongue! In fact, another common name for this native plant…
Cream Violet
Viola striata Cream Violet is also called Pale Violet, but whichever name you prefer, this is a vanilla-colored violet that is quite common right now in mid-spring. Luckily for us it is easy to identify too. Viola striata has 1-inch ivory-white flowers born on long stems (peduncles) that emerge from the leaf axil (the juncture where the leaf…
White Campion
Silene latifolia On my way to work early this morning, a stand of showy White Campion caught my eye. It was just growing in a roadside ditch that hadn’t been mowed yet. I felt like it was a little bit early in the year for this plant to be in bloom (I think of this as…
Wild Stonecrop
Woodland or Wild Stonecrop Sedum ternatum Wild stonecrop is a native sedum that prefers shaded woodlands. It is a mat-forming succulent with rounded leaves arranged in a whorled pattern. Fertile, upright stems bear beautiful, bright white blooms in May and June. Each flower has four white petals. Wild stonecrop is usually found on bare slopes…
Wild Sasparilla
Aralia nudicaulis I found a section of hardwood forest at Primland that was carpeted with Wild Sasparilla! The plants were already past flowering in early June, but the flower stalks were still present below the leaves, and seeds were starting to form on them. See the gallery above. In early spring, before the leaf canopy…
Canada Violet
Viola canadensis Canada Violet goes by many names, but you may be most comfortable calling it White Violet, or Tall White Violet, because those are its most conspicuous field marks. I usually think of violets as low-growing wildflowers, but this one can reach more than a foot in height. The beautiful heart-shaped leaves can grow…
Dwarf Larkspur
Delphinium tricorne Sometimes in blue, sometimes in white, and sometimes in both blue and white, dwarf larkspur can be found blooming right now in local woodlands. This plant is among the showiest of the spring wildflowers, and it is a great reason to schedule some time outdoors soon. Before dwarf larkspur comes into bloom, the first cluster of basal leaves are…
Philadelphia Fleabane or Common Fleabane
Philadelphia fleabane Erigeron philadelphicus This aster-like flower is a composite: the flower you observe is really a “composite” of many smaller flowers. The genus, Erigeron, includes scores of species, but I’ll take a chance and say that the one pictured here is Philadelphia fleabane, because of the way the leaves are wrapped around the hairy…
Mayapples
May Apples (Podophyllum peltatum) Mayapples are beautiful, umbrella-like plants that grow in moist woods. Some of the plants have just one large, deeply divided leaf, while others have two leaves. A relatively large white flower appears under the 2-leafed plants sometime in May; a green berry or “apple” develops soon thereafter. By mid-June, the plant begins to fade to…
Virginia Waterleaf
Hydrophyllum virginianum You will find Virginia Waterleaf blooming in rich woods during late spring and the early summer months. Right now in early May, the plants are up and the flower buds have formed. Notice the mottled or “water-stained” appearance of the 3 to 7-lobed leaves. The leaves and stem are very succulent (or “watery”), not unlike…
Wood Anemone
Anemone quinquifolia These plants are difficult to photograph! Anemones are also called windflowers, because the lightest breeze puts them in motion. Adding to the difficulty, the flowers close at night and on overcast days, making it hard again to get a good picture. So maybe it is no wonder that I only came across this…
False Solomon’s Seal
Smilacina racemosa Note the placement of the flowers of this plant at the tip of the stem. It is otherwise very similar to Solomon’s Seal in appearance: an upright, unbranched stem bearing alternating oval leaves. The plant produces bright red berries later in the season. Click on any image below to open the gallery.
Birdsfoot Violet
Viola pedata This violet gets its name from the cut-out shape of the leaf: it looks like a bird’s foot! Something else remarkable about this pretty little plant is the broad, flat face of the flower (1-inch wide), which is somewhat reminiscent of a cultivated pansy. The petals are lilac-purple to blue-white, and sometimes the…
Robin’s Plantain
Erigeron pulchellus I first discovered this early-blooming, daisy-like wildflower at my friend’s country house in Shawsville, Virginia. Later, I found it growing in early May in Wildwood Park (Radford), and at the entrance to Pandapas Pond in the Jefferson National Forest. Each time I was really struck by how beautiful it is. See if you agree!…
Shooting Stars
Dodecatheon meadia Shooting Stars! What a great name! This spring-blooming, perennial plant has a basal rosette of oblong leaves, each about 6 inches long and 2 inches wide. In late April and early May, a stalk (or inflorescence) comes up from the center of the rosette and unfurls into a half-dozen or more white or…
Goldenseal
Hydrastis canadensis or Orange-root Goldenseal is also known as orange-root because of its thick, yellow rhizome (or underground root). This inconspicuous wildflower is in danger of being over-harvested because the plant has numerous medicinal uses. It is purported to have anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, and laxative effects, among others. Extracts of farm-raised goldenseal are sold in salves…
VIRGINIA WILDFLOWERS 