Get Your Botany On!

This rare little shrub,  Epigaea repens , can be locally frequent in the high dune country near Lake Michigan. Photographed on December 30,...

This little fern is native in northern Indiana, but it is not very conservative. It tends to show up in degraded sites, often on sandy acid...

Coptis trifolia is occasional in swamp forests near Lake Michigan. It often grows on mossy green hummocks or fallen tree tip-up mounds ne...

Listed as State Rare by the Indiana Dept. of Natural Resources, Pyrola rotundifolia americana is very difficult to find. There is a thriv...

Chimaphila maculata is not very common in Indiana, but in northern Laporte County it is locally frequent in acid sandy flats with partial ...

Dryopteris spinulosa  is common in northern Indiana woodlands. It sometimes grows at the base of a tree where water is funneled down along ...

The text and picture below were posted earlier as a plant quiz. The plant was correctly named by Scott as Veronica officinalis , Common Spe...

This is probably  Ranunculus sceleratus , fully green in a frozen woodland pond at Potato Creek State Park. In getting this picture, I step...

On a steep clay slope at Potato Creek State Park (North Liberty, Indiana), I found these unusual ice formations right on the surface of the...

The large, straplike leaves of  Carex plantaginea  are especially noticeable in winter. This plant is frequent in mesic forest remnants in ...

With its distinctive three-lobed leaves mottled with purple, Sharp-lobed Hepatica gives the winter explorer something extraordinary to ad...

Gotta read these to believe it... http://today.duke.edu/2012/10/gagafern http://novataxa.blogspot.com/2012/10/2012-fern-gaga-monstrapa...

I recently posted the following as a plant quiz...   -------------------- I've taken a lot of photos this year, and I hope at som...

This attractive grass is frequent in dry sand throughout much of Indiana. At maturity the panicles break free of the plant and tumble their ...

This extremely attractive native grass, Aristida purpurascens , is occasional in dry, sandy places that are not too disturbed.  Photogra...

Hamamelis virginiana is a common shrub or small tree on the forested slopes of the dune country in Indiana . It also occurs away from th...

A few weeks ago  Parnassia glauca  was flowering at a calcareous fen in northern Indiana. The plants were showing drought stress on a slope...

I recently posted the following plant quiz...   -------------------- It's been a busy year.  I'm behind on publishing blog po...

The scratchy-scabrous leaves of this sand-loving plant have a very unusual feel. Photographed at Ober Savanna Nature Preserve in Starke Cou...

Aster azureus contributes to the ineffable beauty of September and October days when flat-bottomed clouds line up across the brilliant blu...