Winter Botany

 

Common Milkweed

Common Milkweed

Most of us learn to identify wildflowers and weeds during the growing season, but can you take your familiarity with these plants to the dead remains in winter and identify them against a snowy backdrop? A good place to start is with plants that you know are growing in a specific place during the growing season and have obvious characteristics. For instance the Common Milkweed which recognize by many people can be identified year around. It is easy to find and is easily recognizable with its open warty pods. Some species such as the Rattlesnake Master look the same in winter as it does when flowering, except it is brown rather than whitish. Some plants retain all or part of the leaves, but most have some indication as to where the leaves were attached. Some flowers also have seed remaining in tubes or pods that split open and seeds fall out with the winter winds.

Swamp Mallow Pod

Swamp Mallow Pod

Pay attention to plants from the time you first see them until after flowers have faded and have been replaced by seed pods or fruit. At this point the main difference in winter may only be the color as the part of the plant dies back, changing from green to brown or black. The accompanying photos were from the edge of the Kalamazoo River near Saugatuck. I have photographed the Swamp Mallow there when in bloom but never in winter, so I decided to see if I could find them. By remembering where they were this past summer it wasn’t hard to find them. While there I also found other wildflower remains and was able to identify and photograph them as well.

There are a couple of books in print that can help you identify wildflowers in winter, but familiarity with the plants growth habits and characteristics goes a long ways to identifying what you see. If you find something that you cannot figure out, remember where it is or mark it and return in spring and summer to see if you can find and identify it then. Another helpful activity to help learn and become familiar with wildflowers at all stages of growth and maturity, is to grow them from seed and plant them in your garden.

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