Monday, May 3, 2010

Question for the Hive Mind: two different orange-flowering NOIDs

Got an e-mail last night from someone interested in an ID for this plant, which was spotted in a Northern Minnesota state park three or four years ago. The photo isn't the clearest (it should help to open it in a separate window), but you should still be able to make out the main features: low rosette of leaves, prickly/hairy flower stalk and leaves, red-orange flower with lots of yellow stamens.


I'm fairly certain I haven't seen this growing as a weed or wildflower anywhere; I'm less sure whether it might have been something we had for sale at the garden center. All of that was sort of a blur at the time, and it's even more so after a year away.

And then as long as we're here, I've got another orange NOID for you. This second plant is one I saw growing in someone's yard recently. I'm pretty sure it's there deliberately. It seems familiar, somehow, but yet it's not ringing any of the I-used-to-sell-those bells for me.


10 comments:

Laddie said...

I have no idea on the first one but the second is Erisyum.

Laddie said...

I misspelled that. It should be Erysimum.

Don said...

And the first is a hawkweed, Hieracium sp. A very large genus. If I had to guess, it might be H. aurantiacum, but that's just throwing a dart. I'm sure it's native. There are a few that are cultivated in rock gardens, but many are weedy.

And I second Laddie's ID

Joseph said...

I second Laddie and Don's ids. Though I'm pretty sure the hawkweed isn't native. They sure are weedy, but I still think they are pretty in masses in a lawn (but then I like dandelions too...)

Don said...

Greensparrow: I stand corrected. It's European in origin, despite its wide distribution in the US and Canada. Originally introduced as an ornamental, but has attained noxious weed status in several states and is widely considered invasive.

Tigerdawn said...

There are lots of hawkweeds at our fishing cabin in Ontario. We have orange and yellow ones. I always wanted to know what they were!

Helen said...

I much prefer hawkweed's AKA devil's paintbrush.

The first plant is a wallflower, and also goes by the species name Cheiranthus cheiri. How taxonomists like to confuse us!

Helen said...

Congratulations on all your Mousie nominations, by the way!

Nancy in Sun Lakes AZ said...

Seeing the hawkweed brings back memories of when I was a kid in Central New York. My father was always fighting them in our lawn. They spread fast and overtake the grass. I haven't seen them in 30 years since I moved to the desert.

jennasweet said...

the 1st one is hawkweed. i have been reseaching this as it has gone wild in my lawn this year in northeast wisconsin