Wildflower of the Year
Wildflower of the Year 2024 White Turtlehead (Chelone glabra)
VNPS offers White Turtlehead artwork on T-Shirts and other apparel. Visit our Online Store to order. White Turtlehead is a perennial herb rising from a rhizomatous rootstock. The smooth stems are only sparingly branched above and attain heights 0.5 to 2 m. Leaves are opposite, narrow, linear to lance-ovate, and up to 15 cm long,…
Read MoreWildflower of the Year 2023 Hollow Joe-Pye-Weed (Eutrochium fistulosum)
VNPS offers Joe-Pye-Weed artwork on T-Shirts, Tote Bags, and Coffee Mugs. Visit our Online Store to order. Hollow Joe-pye-weed is a perennial herb that may grow as tall as 35 dm (about 11.5 feet). Stems are frequently purple and, when young, are covered with a thin, glaucous, layer of wax. Cross sections of stems will…
Read MoreWildflower of the Year 2022 Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
Buttonbush is a shrub or small tree commonly attaining heights up to about 6 m, occasionally twice that size. Leaves are opposite or whorled, elliptic to ovate, 2-8 cm wide, and 6-15 cm long; margins are entire and apices are acute or cuspidate, i.e., with an abrupt, short, tooth-like point. Triangular stipules, 2-3 mm long,…
Read MoreWildflower of the Year 2021 American Wisteria (Wisteria frutescens)
Wisteria frutescens is a woody liana, potentially growing to heights of 15 m; young stems are smooth or covered with small hairs pressed tightly to the stem surface. Stems climb by twining around supports in a clockwise direction. Leaves are alternate and odd-pinnately compound, 10—30 cm long. Leaves may have from 5 to 15 leaflets…
Read MoreWildflower of the Year 2020 Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)
Wild Geranium is a woodland perennial herb. Plants emerge from stout, shallow, rhizomes bearing knobby leaf scars and thin roots. Aerial stems attain heights of 2 to 7 dm; stem hairiness ranges from a few scattered trichomes to densely pubescent. Leaves are crowded basally, but well separated and opposite on flowering stems. Overall leaf shape…
Read MoreWildflower of the Year 2019 New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus)
New Jersey Tea is a low shrub, generally less than 1 m tall and often profusely branched. Stems are finely hairy, but may become smooth with age. Vegetative stems are perennial, but flowering stems persist for just a single year. Leaves are mostly 5 to 10 cm long; leaf shape varies from narrowly to widely…
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