Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Neither a dog, nor a weed

Photo by Ned Harris, 3/7/2012

The yellow flower is called Dogweed (Thymophylla pentachaeta) and is in - you guessed it - the Sunflower Family (Asteraceae). If you look closely in the lower right, you'll see other some tiny white flowers with a dark center. These are one of the many Euphorbia species in the Spurge Family (Euphorbiaceae). That's as far as I'll go, though, until I get more training. You'll also see some Cryptanta (those furry looking white flowers in the lower left and right). There are a number of those species as well. In the Borage Family (Boraginaceae).
You may have noticed that the links to the flowers often have different common and/or scientific names. One of the pluses of common names is that they are easier to remember (and pronounce); but one downside is that there are often several common names for the same plant; and another that two different plants can share the same common name. Sigh. I'm doing my best to make sure that the link goes to the plant I'm posting about, though, by looking at the scientific names. Many scientific names were corrected at a recent botany conference, and Joan Tedford's list (which I use) has the latest. Bottom line: the scientific names I post are the most current.

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