Get Your Botany On!

Gymnocladus dioica is one of the few trees in Indiana with bipinnately compound or "bipinnate" leaves. Is it the only one? I don...

The unusual inflorescence of Carpinus caroliniana offers a serious challenge to one of our most recognized birds. The Cardinal sometimes ca...

I looked around this carny but didn't see any stipes on display. Nor did I see any rachises, pinnae, or sori. In fact, I didn't see ...

I was stunned to see this common fall flower in a state of FGB ( full, glorious bloom ) today, June 8th (!) on a roadside in Marshall County...

Opuntia humifusa has to be one of the most unusual plants in Indiana, and it is surprisingly widespread in the state. The actual leaves are...

This showy little snapdragon is one of several attractive non-natives that seem to prefer growing along railroads. Others include Railroad V...

This little seedling was growing along the edge of a parking lot at a playground for small children in a northern Indiana city. Not what I w...

Three cheers for DenPro! On March 22 I posted this photo of a vegetative plant I didn't recognize, hoping someone would be able to name ...

I recently posted the following plant quiz... ---------- The photograph below was taken in St. Joseph County, Indiana.  This should be an...

Good Call, A.L. and M.Y.O.Q. It is Valeriana pauciflora . It is interesting to note that “ pauciflora ” means few-flowered, but the common n...

Silene virginica is one of those striking plants that just has to be noticed in shady forests in late spring. I saw it again today and tried...

Smilacina stellata is one of the easiest natives to grow at home. It spreads like crazy from abundant rhizomes, and grows in just about any...

Whatever it is, I would love to have that in my street address. I'd call it Wood Sedge Road, and I'd get return address labels with ...

Common in forests and dry, open prairie remnants, the showy Camassia scilloides can be extremely abundant where it grows. Photographed in b...

Silene virginica puts on a brilliant show in forests just as the spring ephemerals begin to fade. Photographed near the Salamonie River at ...

The diminutive Scutellaria parvula var. leonardii grows in sunny, dry, gravelly sites with very little competition. I had never seen this ...

Last weekend I was privileged to botanize with Scott Namestnik, one of the most observant and knowledgeable botanists ever to wield a handle...

This year's March warmth hurried the flowering of many of our spring-blooming forest species, but it also affected some of our early spe...

Good call Scott! It is Thlaspi perfoliatum , Small Pennycress, with auriculate-clasping (not perfoliate) leaves on the stem. Some are now ca...

Good call Johnny Hank, it is Scleranthus annuus , German Knotgrass or "Knawel." This small and easily overlooked plant grows all o...