Family Compositae or Asteraceae (Composite family).
One of our most decorative late-summer and autumn flowers, White Snakeroot lights up the edge of the woods and can form a perfect ornamental border around a field. Its beauty comes at a price: it’s poisonous to cattle, and the poison can be transmitted through their milk. “Milk sickness” killed Abraham Lincoln’s mother. But if you don’t have cattle, and you don’t eat the plant yourself, there’s no reason not to enjoy this beautiful wild native. The plants above grew at the edge of the woods in Beechview, where they were blooming in late September. (You can find a fuller description at the full article.)
Family Oxalidaceae (Wood-Sorrel Family).
Also known as Yellow Wood-Sorrel, Pickleweed, and a number of other names, many of which refer to the sour taste produced by the oxalic acid in the leaves. The tiny yellow flowers pop up in sunny spots everywhere. These plants are quite at home in lawns, gravel, pavement cracks, and anywhere else they can get a foothold. The leaves are like miniature versions of the leaves of their close relative the shamrock. The angled stems of the seedpods distinguish this from the closely related Oxalis corniculata.
Gray describes the genus and the species.
ÓXALIS L. WOOD SORREL. Sepals 5, persistent. Petals 5, sometimes united at base, withering after expansion. Stamens 10, usually monadelphous at base, alternately shorter. Styles 5, distinct. Pod prismatic, cylindric, or awl-shaped, membranaceous; valves persistent, being fixed to the axis by the partitions. Seeds pendulous from the axis, anatropous, their outer coat loose and separating. Embryo large and straight in fleshy albumen; cotyledons flat. —Several species produce small peculiar flowers, precociously fertilized in the bud and particularly fruitful; and the ordinary flowers are often dimorphous or even trimorphous in the relative length of the stamens and styles. (Name from oxys, sour.)
O. strícta L. Pale green, appressed-pubescent or strigose; stems usually several, decumbent, stoutish; stipules evident; pedicels 1-4 (mostly 2), subumbellate at the end of the peduncle, at length deflexed; the fruit large, columnar, short-pointed, 15–23 mm. long. —Dry or sandy soil, s. Me. to Dak, and southw., common. —The petals pale yellow, often with a reddish spot near the base.
Family Oxalidaceae (Wood-Sorrel Family).
Also called Lady’s Sorrel. These plants closely resemble the common Sourgrass (O. stricta), but the stems of the seedpods do not have the pronounced angle usually seen in their close cousin. This species is more urban than the other, not found in many rural areas, and it is often found, as here, in a beautiful purple-leaved variety, which seems to favor the sunniest spots (or perhaps sunlight brings out the purple color).
Gray describes the genus and the species.
ÓXALIS L. WOOD SORREL. Sepals 5, persistent. Petals 5, sometimes united at base, withering after expansion. Stamens 10, usually monadelphous at base, alternately shorter. Styles 5, distinct. Pod prismatic, cylindric, or awl-shaped, membranaceous; valves persistent, being fixed to the axis by the partitions. Seeds pendulous from the axis, anatropous, their outer coat loose and separating. Embryo large and straight in fleshy albumen; cotyledons flat. —Several species produce small peculiar flowers, precociously fertilized in the bud and particularly fruitful; and the ordinary flowers are often dimorphous or even trimorphous in the relative length of the stamens and styles. (Name from oxys, sour.)
O. corniculàta L. (LADY’S SORREL.) Erect or decumbent, apparently flowering the first year but perennial by numerous slender pale runners; leaflets green or often purplish; pedicels subumbellately or at length cymosely arranged at the summit of the peduncle, ascending, sparingly pubescent, the hairs spreading; petals yellow. (O. cymosa, Bushii, & rufa Small; O. stricta of many auth., not L.) —Dry or moist open soil, a very common weed. (Eu.)