Common Arrow-grass
Triglochin maritimum
• Family: Arrow-grass (Juncaginaceae)
• Habitat: brackish marshes, freshwater marshes
• Height: 8-30 inches
• Flower size: 1/8 inch across
• Flower color: greenish
• Flowering time: May to August
Whorled Wood Aster
Oclemena acuminata (Aster acuminatus)
• Family: Aster (Asteraceae)
• Habitat: woods
• Height: 8-30 inches
• Flower size: flowerheads 1 to 1-1/2 inches across
• Flower color: white rays around a yellow to reddish disk
• Flowering time: July to October
Marsh Bedstraw
Galium palustre
• Family: Madder (Rubiaceae)
• Habitat: swamps, stream banks, wet meadows
• Height: 6-18 inches
• Flower size: 3/16 inch across
• Flower color: white
• Flowering time: June to August
Birdfoot Trefoil
Lotus corniculatus
• Family: Pea (Fabaceae)
• Habitat: roadsides, waste areas, fields
• Height: 6-18 inches
• Flower size: 1/2 inch long
• Flower color: yellow
• Flowering time: June to October
Blue-bead Lilly
Clintonia borealis
The common name "blue-bead" comes from this plant's bright blue berries.
• Family: Lily (Liliaceae)
• Habitat: acid soil in moist woods
• Height: 6-16 inches
• Flower size: 3/4 to 1 inch long
• Flower color: yellow
• Flowering time: May to July
Bunchberry
Cornus canadensis
• Family: Dogwood (Cornaceae)
• Habitat: cool woods, mountain slopes
• Height: 3-8 inches
• Flower size: flower head is 1-1/2 inches across
• Flower color: a cluster of tiny, yellow-green flowers surrounded by showy white bracts
• Flowering time: May to July
Common Chickweed
Stellaria media
• Family: Pink (Caryophyllaceae)
• Habitat: roadsides, waste places, gardens, lawns
• Height: 1-4 inches
• Flower size: 1/8 inch across
• Flower color: white
• Flowering time: March to November
Five deeply clefted petals…not ten petals!!!
Common Cinquefoil
Potentilla simplex
Common cinquefoil can grow up to ten inches tall, or its stems may creep along the ground.
• Family: Rose (Rosaceae)
• Habitat: fields, dry woods
• Height: 6-18 inches
• Flower size: 1/2 to 3/4 inch
• Flower color: yellow
• Flowering time: April to June
Three-toothed Cinquefoil
Sibbaldiopsis tridentata (Potentilla tridentata)
Three-toothed cinquefoil is an endangered species in Connecticut.
• Family: Rose (Rosaceae)
• Habitat: sunny rocks, acid soil
• Height: 1-8 inches
• Flower size: 1/2 inch
• Flower color: white
• Flowering time: June to August
Water-hemlock (Spotted Cowbane)
Cicuta maculata
Despite the name "water hemlock," this plant is not related to true hemlocks, but rather to poison hemlock (Conium maculatum). It is also called "spotted cowbane" because its stems are sometimes spotted or streaked with purple, and it is deadly cows. It is also highly poisonous to humans.
• Family: Carrot (Apiaceae)
• Habitat: wet meadows, swamps, thickets
• Height: 3-6 feet
• Flower size: tiny flowers in umbels 3 inches across
• Flower color: white
• Flowering time: June to September
Highbush Blueberry
Vaccinium corymbosum
Most cultivated blueberries are varieties or hybrids of highbush blueberry.
• Family: Heath (Ericaceae)
• Habitat: woods, thickets, bogs in acidic soil
• Height: 4-10 feet
• Flower size: 3/8 inch long
• Flower color: white to pale pink
• Flowering time: May to June
Common Winter Cress (Yellow Rocket)
Barbarea vulgaris
• Family: Mustard (Brassicaceae)
• Habitat: moist fields, stream banks
• Height: 1-2 feet
• Flower size: 1/4 to 3/8 inch across
• Flower color: yellow
• Flowering time: April to August
Daylily
Hemerocallis fulva
Daylily, a native of east Asia, sometimes grows as a garden escape.
• Family: Lily (Liliaceae)
• Habitat: roadsides, meadows
• Height: 2-4 feet
• Flower size: 3-4 inches wide
• Flower color: orange
• Flowering time: June to July
Canada Mayflower (False Lily-of-the-valley)
Maianthemum canadense
Canada mayflower is a common plant in Connecticut woods. It generally grows in large groups.
• Family: Lily (Liliaceae)
• Habitat: woods
• Height: 3-6 inches
• Flower size: 1/8 inch long
• Flower color: white
• Flowering time: May to July
False Solomon's-seal
Maianthemum racemosum (Smilacina racemosa)
• Family: Lily (Liliaceae)
• Habitat: woods
• Height: 1-3 feet
• Flower size: 1/8 inch long, in clusters 2-4 inches long
• Flower color: white
• Flowering time: May to July
Hairy Solomon's-seal
Polygonatum pubescens
This plant is very similar to smooth Solomon's-seal, which also grows in Connecticut. The leaves of hairy Solomon's-seal are slightly hairy underneath; smooth Solomon's-seal leaves are completely hairless.
• Family: Lily (Liliaceae)
• Habitat: woods
• Height: 1-3 feet
• Flower size: 1/2 to 3/4 inch long
• Flower color: yellow-green
• Flowering time: May to June
Pilewort (Fireweed)
Erechtites hieraciifolia
• Family: Aster (Asteraceae)
• Habitat: moist roadsides, fields, and thickets, often in recently burned areas
• Height: 1-9 feet
• Flower size: flowerheads 1/4 inch across
• Flower color: white
• Flowering time: July to October
Common Fleabane
Erigeron philadelphicus
• Family: Aster (Asteraceae)
• Habitat: fields, open woods, grassy areas
• Height: 6-30 inches
• Flower size: flowerheads 1/2 to 3/4 inch across
• Flower color: pink, pale pink or white rays around a yellow disk
• Flowering time: May to July
Daisy Fleabane
Erigeron annuus
• Family: Aster (Asteraceae)
• Habitat: fields, roadsides
• Height: 1-5 feet
• Flower size: 1/2 inch across
• Flower color: white or pale pink rays around a yellow disk
• Flowering time: June to October
Goldthread
Coptis trifolia
• Family: Buttercup (Ranunculaceae)
• Habitat: cool woods, bogs
• Height: 3-6 inches
• Flower size: 1/2 inch across
• Flower color: white
• Flowering time: May to June
Hobblebush
Viburnum lantanoides (Viburnum alnifolium)
The showy outer flowers are sterile.
• Family: Honeysuckle (Caprifoliaceae)
• Habitat: low, moist woods
• Height: 3 to 6 feet
• Flower size: 1/8 inch fertile flowers and 3/4 inch sterile flowers in heads up to 5 inches across
• Flower color: white
• Flowering time: May to July
Indian Pipe
Monotropa uniflora
Indian pipe, like its relative pinesap, has no chlorophyll, so it cannot obtain energy from sunlight. Instead, it gets nutrients from organic matter in the soil.
• Family: Indian-pipe (Monotropaceae)
• Habitat: woods, in leafy humus
• Height: 4-10 inches
• Flower size: 3/4 inch long
• Flower color: white
• Flowering time: June to September
Jack-in-the-pulpit
Arisaema triphyllum
• Family: Arum (Araceae)
• Habitat: moist woods, swamps
• Height: 1-3 feet
• Flower size: actual flowers are tiny; "pulpit" structure (a spathe) is 3-4 inches high
• Flower color: green, sometimes streaked with red-brown
• Flowering time: April to June
Jewelweed (Spotted Touch-me-not)
Impatiens capensis
Jewelweed is an entertaining plant. The ripe seedpods pop open at a gentle touch, hence the name touch-me-not. Water drops bead up on the leaves, and a leaf held underwater has a silver sheen.
Family: Balsam (Balsaminaceae)
• Habitat: moist shady areas
• Height: 2-5 feet
• Flower size: 1 to 1/2 inches long
• Flower color: orange
• Flowering time: July to September
Mountain Laurel
Kalmia latifolia (State flower of Connecticut)
• Family: Heath (Ericaceae)
• Habitat: rocky woods
• Height: 5-15 feet
• Flower size: 3/4 to 1 inch across
• Flower color: pale pink
Purple Loosestrife
Lythrum salicaria
• Family: Loosestrife (Lythraceae)
• Habitat: swamps, wet meadows, ditches
• Height: 2-4 feet
• Flower size: 1/2 to 3/4 inch across
• Flower color: magenta
• Flowering time: June to September
Northern Pitcher-plant (Purple Pitcher-plant)
Sarracenia purpurea
This is a carnivorous plant. Insects become trapped in the pitcher-like leaves. The insects are then digested, and the nutrients used by the plants.
• Family: Pitcher Plant (Sarraceniaceae)
• Habitat: sphagnum bogs
• Height: 8-24 inches
• Flower size: 2 inches across
• Flower color: dark red
• Flowering time: May to July
The leaves are modified into pitchers. The inner surface is covered with downward-pointing hairs, which make it difficult for insects to crawl out of the pitcher.
Common Plantain
Plantago major
• Family: Plantain (Plantaginaceae)
• Habitat: roadsides, waste places, lawns
• Height: 6-16 inches
• Flower size: tiny flowers packed into a long, cylindrical flowerhead 1/4 inch across
• Flower color: white
• Flowering time: June to October
Multiflora Rose
Rosa multiflora
• Family: Rose (Rosaceae)
• Habitat: roadsides, thickets
• Height: 5-10 feet
• Flower size: 1 inch across
• Flower color: white or pale pink
• Flowering time: May to June
Common St. Johnswort
Hypericum perforatum
The flowers have been used as a reddish dye. (If you rub a petal between your fingers, it will leave a dark red-purple stain.)
• Family: Mangosteen (Clusiaceae)
• Habitat: roadsides, fields, waste places
• Height: 1-2.5 feet
• Flower size: 3/4 to 1 inch across Flower color: yellow
Wild Strawberry (Common Strawberry)
Fragaria virginiana
• Family: Rose (Rosaceae)
• Habitat: fields, wood margins, rocky areas
• Height: 3-6 inches
• Flower size: 3/4 inch
• Flower color: white
• Flowering time: April to June
Cow Vetch (Tufted Vetch)
Vicia cracca
• Family: Pea (Fabaceae)
• Habitat: fields and roadsides
• Height: 2 to 3 feet
• Flower size: 1/2 inch long in long racemes
• Flower color: blue-purple
• Flowering time: May to August
Spotted Wintergreen
Chimaphila maculata
• Family: Wintergreen (Pyrolaceae)
• Habitat: dry woods
• Height: 4-10 inches
• Flower size: 3/4 inch across
• Flower color: white or pink
• Flowering time: June to August
Common Wood-sorrel
Oxalis montana (Oxalis acetosella)
• Family: Wood Sorrel (Oxalidaceae)
• Habitat: moist woods
• Height: 3-5 inches
• Flower size: 3/4 inches across
• Flower color: white or pale pink with darker pink veining
• Flowering time: May to July
Common Yarrow
Achillea millefolium
• Family: Aster (Asteraceae)
• Habitat: fields, roadsides
• Height: 1-3 feet
• Flower size: flowerheads 1/4 inch across
• Flower color: white, occasionally pale pink
• Flowering time: June to September