#wingstem

Fuzzy and buzzy

Early fall flowers 1

wingstem

From top: wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia), also known as yellow ironweed, a late summer aster so named because the petioles of its leaves run down the plant's stem; northern spicebush (Lindera benzoin), a gorgeous native shrub whose bright red berries in late summer are followed by the most extraordinary gold foliage in the fall; orange mycena (Mycena leaiana), a lovely, gregarious fungi of deciduous logs whose pigment has shown antibacterial and anti-cancer properties; the ripened but dangerously toxic berries of pokeweed (Phytolacca americana), whose young leaves are used by mountain folk to make poke sallet (but only after repeated cleansings to remove the toxins); American hog-peanut (Amphicarpaea bracteata), a lovely twining vine whose roots and ground nut are edible; cutleaf coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata), also known as green-headed coneflower and wild goldenglow, a close relative of black-eyed Susan with gorgeous, pinnately-dissected leaves (the leaf photo also shows the characteristic tri-foliate leaf pattern of hog-peanut); zig-zag goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis), one of two adorable woodland goldenrods that grow in this area (the other being blue-stemmed goldenrod), both of which produce clusters of brilliant yellow flowers in both their leaf axils and at the ends of their stems; steeplebush (Spiraea tomentosa), also known as hardhack, which produces delicate plumes of pink flowers in late summer; a spined micrathena (Micrathena gracilis), which has ensnared a fly in her web; and an arrowhead orb weaver (Verrucosa arenata), also known as a triangle orb-weaver, a sparkling gem of an arachnid that reels in its prey like a fisherman dragging in a net.

Verbesina occidentalis is the one in bloom, and the last pic shows just the leaves of V. alternifolia. The main difference between them is the leaf arrangement (opposite vs alternate), but alternifolia also blooms later & less showily.