(try clicking on each picture to see the details better)

Circaea lutetiana; Onagraceae (evening primrose family)

Not in the nightshade family (Solanaceae), despite its common name.  I believe the generic name (Circaea) is from Greek mythology; Circe was the enchantress who turned Odysseus’ crew into swine.

Another plant I was ecstatic to find.  Set up the tripod and got out the 105mm lens and spent a good 10 minutes trying to get decent pictures.  Why ecstatic?  Because I’d read about it but never seen it before.  Last year when I was even less good at using botanical keys, I (briefly) mistook another plant for this.  Look at the closeup; how many petals do you see? It looks like 4, but is actually two (and two sepals).  There are very few flowers with only two petals.  Only half a page worth in Newcomb’s.  That kind of trivia makes it interesting to me.

Here’s the whole plant, about two and a half feet tall:

 Enchanter’s nightshade can be found in rich woodlands, especially where it gets a little dappled sunlight.

Monotropa uniflora; Monotropaceae (Indian pipe family); more recently phylogenists are placing it in the Ericaceae (heath family)

Another saprophyte (like squawroot, FOTD 6/04).  It completely lacks chlorophyll, deriving nutrients from decaying matter.  But it is indeed a flowering plant, not a fungus.  Bees even visit the flowers for nectar.

Yes, I was lying on my belly to get these shots.  The leaves on the ground give a sense of scale.  Indian pipe grows only a few inches tall.

Alium canadense; Liliaceae

You know that common weed that makes your yard smell oniony after you’ve cut the grass?  If you can stand it, try letting some grow.  It’s a pretty flower:

and purportedly edible.

However if you see this one, pull it out fast:

That’s field garlic, Alium vineale, an invasive alien. Although not poisonous, it has an unpleasant taste.

Hyla versicolor

Steve and I were walking along the canal west of Pennyfield Lock and took a detour along a little footpath into a wildlife management area when we stumbled into the frog condo:

There were hundreds of these critters, hanging out on leaves all around us.  Kind of cute:

Remember, I’m not a botanist and not an entomologist, and I’m not a herpetologist, either.  It’s possible I got the species mis-identified.  If so you can make a face at me, a la

.  I think that’s Anaxyrus americanus, the American toad.

Scutellaria elliptica; Lamiaceae (mint family)

Remember veiny skullcap from May 27?  Here’s her sister, another of the ten species of Scutellaria found in this area.  Still searching for the other eight.

At about a foot and a half tall, it’s hard to miss on the forest floor, especially since little else is blooming now*.  The wildflower show will get back into high gear in high summer, when most of the plants in the Asteraceae start to bloom.

*honewort, shining bedstraws, fringed loosestrife