Flower ID - first posting
 

I don't know if it's usual to make an intro or not. Anyway, I'm a
retired physicist who has taken up the study and identification of
native plants as a hobby. Live in Aiken, SC.

At

http://www.flickr.com/photos/raphanus97 are three photos of a plant
that has me stumped. If it weren't for the five pointed petals I'd
guess it was Common Toadflax (Nuttallanthus canadensis) Please educate
me if my photos are lacking or whatever...

Flower ID - first posting
 

Raphanus wrote:
I don't know if it's usual to make an intro or not. Anyway, I'm a
retired physicist who has taken up the study and identification of
native plants as a hobby. Live in Aiken, SC.

At

http://www.flickr.com/photos/raphanus97 are three photos of a plant
that has me stumped. If it weren't for the five pointed petals I'd
guess it was Common Toadflax (Nuttallanthus canadensis) Please educate
me if my photos are lacking or whatever...


It looks to me like Wahlenbergia marginata (Thunb.) de Candolle, in the
family Campanulaceae. Naturalized, introduced from Asia.

Flower ID - first posting
 

You're right! Thanks. My usual references, "Botany in a Day" (I bet
this book is loved here.) by Elpel, "A Guide to the Wildflowers of
South Carolina" by Porcher and Rayner and Newcomb's "Wildflower Guide"
were of no help at all. (The latter understandably so because the
flower doesn't exist in the NE.) The academic tome "Manual of the
Vascular Flora of the Carolinas" by Radford et. al. has a short
paragraph devoted to the genus.

The Univ. of So. Car. Herbarium site

http://cricket.biol.sc.edu/herb/WW/W...marginata1.jpg

has a nice photo. If I had known where to look, I'd've recognized it.

[Being a grad of So. Cal. I have a hard time calling Univ. of So. Car.,
USC. :-)]

I try to identify the plants myself without consulting real live
experts. When I give up and ask, I feel that I've failed, but my
curiosity demands an answer. A Catch-22.

Thanks again.

Malcolm Manners wrote:
Raphanus wrote:
I don't know if it's usual to make an intro or not. Anyway, I'm a
retired physicist who has taken up the study and identification of
native plants as a hobby. Live in Aiken, SC.

At

http://www.flickr.com/photos/raphanus97 are three photos of a plant
that has me stumped. If it weren't for the five pointed petals I'd
guess it was Common Toadflax (Nuttallanthus canadensis) Please educate
me if my photos are lacking or whatever...


It looks to me like Wahlenbergia marginata (Thunb.) de Candolle, in the
family Campanulaceae. Naturalized, introduced from Asia.