We have added pictures of a pale-blue form to our page for the Morning Glory (Ipomoea purpurea).
We have added three more pictures to the page for the Asiatic Dayflower (Commelina communis), including this one with bonus fly.
We have added two pictures of the beautiful (and poisonous) red berries to the page for Climbing Nightshade (Solanum dulcamara).
Family Compositae or Asteraceae (Composite Family).
A rayless Composite: that is, a flower head with only disc flowers and no rays, like a daisy with no “petals.” The yellow button-like discs and lacy fernlike foliage are distinctive. Tansy came over here as a garden staple, but it has made itself at home. It is never abundant enough in Pittsburgh to qualify as a pest; it is only a pleasant visitor popping up in unexpected places, like here along the sidewalk in the central business district of Beechview.
Gray describes the genus and the species:
TANACÈTUM L. TANSY. Heads many-flowered, nearly discoid; flowers all fertile, the marginal chiefly pistillate and 3-5- toothed. Involucre imbricated, dry. Receptacle convex, naked. Achenes angled or ribbed, with a large flat top; pappus a short crown.—Bitter and acrid mostly strong-scented herbs (ours perennial) , with 1-3 pinnately dissected leaves, and corymbed (rarely single) heads. Flowers yellow, in summer. (Name of uncertain derivation.)
T. vulgàre L. (Common T.) Stem 0.5-1 m. high, smooth; leaflets and the wings of the petiole cut-toothed; corymb dense; pistillate flowers terete, with oblique 3-toothed limb; pappus 5-lobed. —Escaped from gardens to roadsides, etc. (Introd. from Eu.) Var. críspum DC. Leaves more cut and crisped.—Frequent in similar places. (Introd. from Eu.)
Family Solanaceae (Tomato Family).
This plant is a taxonomic nightmare. Gray would identify it as Solanum nigrum, which he regarded as “a cosmopolite”; our Check List of the Vascular Flora of Allegheny County identifies it as Solanum americanum. Current botanists identify a whole Solanum nigrum group of similar species within the genus Solanum. The USDA PLANTS database identifies Solanum ptychanthum as the only one of that group that grows in our area, so we identify it thus.
The flowers are very similar to tomato flowers, but white instead of yellow. The leaves are pointed ovals, dark and a little glossy. The fruit is a black berry.
Like many members of the tomato family, this plant is poisonous, but there are cultivated varieties with edible fruit. The wild ripe berries are probably not poisonous, but it’s best to leave them alone. Unripe berries are definitely toxic.
