Monday, July 27, 2015

Tosohatchee WMA: Mostly Blue , July 24, 2015

We got an early morning start, but it was raining hard when we arrived at Toso. The rain soon tapered off and we had a good day for photography. Skyflower was the featured wildflower on this visit.  We found several other blue or bluish flowers, including the beautiful pineland waterwillow, making its first appearance in this blog. All wildflowers depicted are native.
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Early Morning Rain
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Skyflower (Hydrolea corymbosa, Hydroleaceae)

Skyflower was abundant; colonies of it were growing on both sides of Power Line Rd and the west side of Fish Hole Rd.

I like the graceful arches the grass makes in the first image above.
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Yellow-eyed grass, meadowmeauty, and young pines
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Wood sage; Canadian germander (Teucrium canadense, Lamiaceae)

Native Americans used the leaves to make medicinal teas. Leaves were also steeped in water for use in healing sores and ulcers of the skin.

Genus name honors Teucher, the first king of Troy, who first used one of the species in medicine to relieve stomach pain and gout.
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 Blue mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum, Asteraceae)
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Sweetscent; saltmarsh fleabane (Pluchea odorata, Asteraceae)
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Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata, Pontederiaceae)
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 Lemon bacopa; blue waterlhyssop (Bacopa caroliniana, Plantaginaceae)
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Peppervine (Ampelopsis arborea, Vitaceae)
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Winged loosestrife (Lythrum alatum var. lanceolatum, Lythraceae)
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Saltmarsh morning-glory (Ipomoea sagittata, Convolulaceae)
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Sweetgum
(early autumn?)
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Showy milkwort (Asemeia violacea, Polygalaceae)
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Starrush whitetop (Rhynchospora colorata, Cyperaceae)
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Axilflower (Mecardonia acuminata subsp. peninsularis, Plantaginaceae)
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Pineland waterwillow (Justicia angusta, Acanthaceae)

This was my first encounter with a Justicia. Roger Hammer identified it for me. It's a small plant, found in wet pine flatwoods, marshes, ditches.
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Pitted stripeseed, piriqueta (Piriqueta cistoides, Turneraceae)
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Swallowtail butterfly
on pickerelweed
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Skipper butterfly
on saltmarsh mallow
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