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Common Wildflowers of the Ivy Creek Natural Area
Introduction
Discovering wildflowers can open up a new world to the nature enthusiast. As you watch the wildflower canvas change over the seasons, you can learn not only names, but also a flower’s relationship to its habitat and pollinator — amazing adaptations that developed over millions of years. Even winter brings an opportunity to see beauty in the rich variety of seeds and seed cases, as well as the beautiful foliage of wintering wildflowers.
This guide is designed for the novice with little or no botanical training and is best used with a field guide. It covers only common wildflowers seen easily from the trails. Within each blooming season, flowers are listed by the habitat in which they grow, color, and in general blooming order, although variations may occur. Species are listed by the common name most often used in this geographic area.
Wildflowers are an valuable ecological component in the web of life. Picking and collecting from the wild and loss of habitat are the greatest threats to wildflower populations. Protected areas such as Ivy Creek are important to help preserve our natural heritage.
This is not a comprehensive list! A lengthy and comprehensive list of flora can be found in the Vascular Flora of the Ivy Creek Natural Area.
Spring
SPRING WILDFLOWERS
April – May
SPRING EPHEMERALS *
Associated with moist bottomland forest, the spring ephemerals have adapted to life beneath mature deciduous trees. They are an extraordinary group of plants that emerge early in the spring before the forest canopy blocks out the sunlight. In a very short period of time, sometimes just 2 weeks, they do all they need for the entire year — bloom, set seed, and manufacture an entire year’s worth of food to be stored in underground tubers. By the time the forest floor is shaded, no trace of the spring ephemerals is visible above ground.
Spring ephemerals are poorly represented at Ivy Creek because their favored habitat was flooded when the Rivanna Reservoir was created in 1965. However, some now grow in the rock garden near the Education Building, and a walk along the Rivanna River will reveal a rich variety of ephemerals, such as Trout Lily, Dutchman’s Breeches, Cut-leaved Toothwort, and Spring Beauty. |
Summer
SUMMER WILDFLOWERS
June – July
FIELD / EDGE
| Queen Anne’s Lace |
white |
| Venus’s Looking Glass |
violet/blue |
| Hawkweeds |
yellow |
| Heal-all |
violet |
| Smartweeds |
pink |
| Milkweed |
white |
| Spreading Dogbane |
white |
| Yarrow |
white |
| Pokeweed |
white |
| Horse Nettle |
white, violet |
| Daisy Fleabane |
white |
| Whorled Coreopsis |
yellow |
| Wingstem |
yellow |
| Mullein |
yellow |
| Wild Basil |
lilac |
| Wild Bergamot |
lilac |
| Chicory |
pale blue – pale lavender
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| Field Thistle |
blue |
| St. Johnwort |
yellow |
| Goldenrods |
yellow |
| Ragweed |
green |
| Asters |
white, blue |
| Rabbit Tobacco |
white |
| Jimson Weed |
white |
| Elephant’s Foot |
blue |
WOODS
| Indian Pipe |
waxy white |
| Cranefly Orchid* |
purplish-white |
| Adam & Eve Orchid* |
yellow-brown |
| Rattlesnake Plantain* |
white |
FLOODPLAIN
| Water Willow |
pale violet |
| Joe-Pye Weed |
white |
| Boneset |
white |
| Monkey Flower |
violet-pink |
NATIVE ORCHIDS *
We usually think of orchids as rare tropical plants, yet they are one of the largest family of plants, with 25,000 species worldwide. There are 152 different orchids growing in the wild in North America; eight species can be found in the woods of Ivy Creek.
A close look at an orchid reveals its characteristic features. The “lip”– a differentiated petal that is larger and of a different shape and color than the others — serves as an attractant and landing site for visiting insect pollinators. A single “column” in the center of each blossom is in fact the fusion of the male and female parts of the flower. After fertilization, the ovary will produce thousands of tiny seeds, sometimes as fine as talcum powder, that will be distributed by the wind. However, to sprout and grow, orchid seeds must land in a suitable habitat that possesses a specific fungus with which it shares a symbiotic existence. Instead of taking up nutrients through their roots, like other green plants, orchids depend on receiving their nutrients from this fungus. That is why it is virtually impossible to transplant an orchid from the wild. |
Autumn
AUTUMN WILDFLOWERS
August – September
FIELD / EDGE
| Heal-all |
violet |
| Hawkweeds |
yellow |
Asters
(Blue Wood, White Wood,
Starved, Purple-stemmed
& Small Wood Aster) |
white, blue |
| Field Thistle |
blue |
Goldenrods
(Silverrod, Wreath, Slender,
Late, Sweet, Tall
& Oldfield Goldenrod) |
yellow, white |
| Rabbit Tobacco |
white |
WOODS
| Coralroot |
yellow-green |
FLOODPLAIN
| Cardinal Flower |
red |
| Monkey Flower |
violet-pink |
| Joe-Pye Weed |
pinkish purple |
| Boneset |
white |
| New York Ironweed |
violet |
| Nodding Bur Marigold |
yellow |
| Jewelweed |
orange |
| Turtlehead |
pink |
CARDINAL FLOWER – A Marshland Jewel
| The Cardinal Flower’s unusual form, velvety texture, and brilliant red color make its discovery along Ivy Creek’s waterways a sheer delight. Named for the robe of a Catholic cardinal, Lobelia cardinalis is in the Bluebell family, as are Spike Lobelia, Indian Tobacco, and Venus’s Looking Glass. Cardinal Flower blooms in late August and September alongside Turtlehead, Jewelweed, and other spectacular wetland species. Marshy ground may deter us from getting a close inspection, but the Cardinal Flower’s primary pollinator, the hummingbird, has no trouble reaching the deep tubular flower. Pollen-bearing anthers perched above the petals “baptize” the hummingbird as it feeds, an intriguing adaptation that aids pollination. Even in prime habitat, Cardinal Flower is seldom abundant. The dramatic and ongoing loss of wetlands in the United States threatens the survival of the Cardinal Flower and other water-loving wildflowers. |
Winter
WINTER WILDFLOWERS
February – March
INTERESTING SEEDS AND SEED CASES
| Milkweed |
| Jimson Weed |
| Dogbane |
| Sticktights |
| Foxtail Grass |
| Broom Sedge |
| Agrimony |
EARLY BLOOMERS
For the naturalist anxiously awaiting those first spring blossoms, February can seem endless. That is why our late winter flowers are so highly anticipated. A walk along the left fork of the Peninsula Trail in late February is an excellent time to look for Trailing Arbutus with its lovely fragrant pink flowers — tucked among the leathery green oval leaves. Although it is only a few inches high, Trailing Arbutus is classified as a shrub.
Hepatica, growing on the Orange trail near the intersection with the Peninsula trail, is so named for its three-lobed purplish green leaves reminiscent of a liver. The flowers, found peeking out among the leaf litter in early March, are usually white at Ivy Creek, although elsewhere variants can be found in pink or blue. It is well worth the search for these harbingers of spring! |
Acknowledgements
Designed by Dede Smith
Illustrations by Cynthia Harrison
With special thanks to:
Nancy Swygert, Fran Boninti, and Tim Williams
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