Many of the wildflowers that I see while I am out shooting did not originate her in North America. Unfortunately some of these invasive species take hold and crowd out many of the native species. Such is the case with spotted knapweed, the purple flower in the picture above. This native of Europe is on the noxious weed list here in Minnesota because of chemicals in the plant that destroy the soil. Each plant produces hundreds of seeds which enable patches of spotted knapweed to grow inhibiting native plants like common cinquefoil, the yellow flower in the picture above.
5 comments:
For a pretty flower who would have known of it's destructive properties. A very interesting post, thank you.
Interesting post on the non-native plant. The yellow flower is a gorgeous wildflower.
Yes some of the pretty flowers we see along our streams are invasive and NOT friendly to the the enviroment.It is interesting to identify them.I'll keep these in mind.
Both are so pretty. It's a shame some a beautiful flower could be so harmful to the soil. Thanks for the info on these as well. Two bright and cheery starts for my morning :)
I believe the yellow flower in the photo is related to common cinquefoil (Potentilla simplex), but is also a non-native species: Potentilla recta, sulphur cinquefoil. If you see the whole plant they are easy to tell apart, but if you are only looking at the flowers, P. simplex petals, center and stamens are a solid yellow, all the same color. P. recta petals are a paler yellow and the center a deeper yellow, and its stamens typically have reddish anthers outlined in yellow. It's really quite lovely, but that is the case with many invasives.
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