Field Guide

Similar to kudzu, Chinese yam is an aggressive vine that overtakes nearly everything within reach that stands still long enough! Learn more about this invasive plant — and please don’t plant it!

Yellow crownbeard and its close relatives are called wingstems because of lengthwise, winged ridges along the stems. Look for it blooming, May through October, in open and rocky areas.

In Europe, St. John’s-wort was long used as a medicinal herb and to ward off evil magic. Today, researchers are finding it can treat depression. Yet it poisons livestock and in some places is an invasive weed.

Naiads are slender, narrow-leaved plants that grow completely under water and are rooted to the bottom. They never have broad, floating leaves or conspicuous flowers or seed heads.

Called carpenter’s weed for its remarkably square stems, cup plant is also notable for its large, opposite leaves that fuse around the stem to form a leafy cup that holds rainwater.

Tickseed sunflower has flattened black seeds that attach themselves to clothing and pets via two needlelike awns. In flower, it grows in massive displays in moist bottomlands.

Ox-eye is a sunflower lookalike. This member of the sunflower family is not a true Helianthus, but a Heliopsis. This attractive perennial is growing in popularity as a native garden flower.

Jerusalem artichoke deserves a better common name. This tall native sunflower has edible tubers and great crop potential, but it has never been very big commercially. Fortunately, we can enjoy it for free in nature.

Ashy sunflower is relatively short compared to others in its genus. Its leaves are grayish, hairy, sessile, and broadly oval. Its colonies are common in upland prairies in the southern half of the state.