August 21st Wildflower Report

[LorraineA]

Our Artist's Point and Grand Marais harbor provide a home for many unusual plants - some are hardly seen anywhere else - some are called Arctic Disjuncts. Earlier in the season we see things like, Bird's-eye Primrose, Butterwort & Brook Lobelia. They are small but oh so beautiful.
Our friend Ken gave us a guided tour out to Artist's Point. These flowers were not showy - but rare. He wanted us to see the Billberry (Vaccinium uliginosum). It is much like a blueberry but very rare. It was struggling because of the drought. Ken gave it many sprinkling cans of water. We saw many Collomia linearus, and also a plant that looked like an Aster and use to be called an Aster but now they want to call it a Goldenrod (Solidago ptarmicoides) - why?? - doesn't make sense. We also saw many Willow-herbs.
It was a bit windy but still a lovely day and the company was special!
(I will be vacationing around Lake Superior with a side trip to Isle Royale) this report is early and there will be no report next Wednesday.

http://bwca.cc/wildflowers/

[bwca]

I found this online:

The plant is unusual for a Goldenrod as the flowers are white instead of the typical yellow, and the flower heads are quite large for a Solidago. Because of these characteristics, the plant used to belong to the genus Aster. The old name was Aster ptarmicoides (Nees) T. & G.

http://www.missouriplants.com/Whitealt/ ... _page.html