Mineral Springs Station

These plants were seen near to the parking lot at the Mineral Springs Station, Porter County, May 15, 2009:

Sambucus sp.
Glechoma hederacea
Geranium maculatum
Sinapis arvensis
Galium aparine
Sassafras albidum
Acer probably A. rubrum
Lonicera tartarica
Cirsium arvense
Taraxicum officinale
Plantago major
Plantago lanceolata
Daucus carota
Oenothera biennis
Lactuca scariola
Dactylis glomerata
Trifolium repens
Rumex crispus
Rumex obtusifolius
Onoclea sensibilis
Lonicera maackii
Salix sp.
Capsella bursa-pastoris
Andropogon gerardii (last year's dead stem, no green plant present)
Veronica peregrina
chickweed (Stellaria or Cerastium sp.)
Medicago lupulina
Thlaspi arvense

Most of these are the typical common plants of disturbed soil.

Tartarian Honeysuckle

Tartarian honeysuckle (Lonicera tartarica).
in flower, both white and pink forms
Mineral Springs station, Porter County. May 15, 2009.


Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii).
This is just beginning to flower. Amur honeysuckle flowers later than tartarian honeysuckle.
Mineral Springs station, Porter County. May 15, 2009.

Lonicera tartarica is much more prevalent in the duneland region than L. maackii. South of here it is the reverse, 99% L. maackii. The following pictures show some L. tartarica in the Lafayette area. It's not rare here but vastly outnumbered by the L. maackii which is everywhere.

Tartarian honeysuckle (Lonicera tartarica).
by railroad tracks near Purdue airport May 2, 2009

Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii).
overgrown area east of gardens north of Purdue airport.
not flowering yet, the white flowers in the background is tartarian honeysuckle flowering. Amur honeysuckle has the larger more acuminate leaves. May 2, 2009.

Tartarian honeysuckle (Lonicera tartarica).
at Bishop's Woods, Lafayette.
flowers in both the pink and the white forms. Each form is on a separate plant.
May 3, 2009
Closer look at same Bishop's Woods plant as above.

Black locust trees are flowering

The black locust trees (Robinia pseudoacacia) are beginning to flower, this black locust is at Celery Bog Park. Picture taken May 14, 2009.


link to earlier post on black locust at Celery Bog:

link to Wikipedia article on black locust:

Snapping turtle

Not just people use the trails, this juvenile snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) decided to take a stroll out on the Celery Bog trail near the West Lafayette Walmart. Picture taken May 14, 2009.

link to snapping turtle:

Autumn olive

Autumn olive (Eleagnus umbellata) at Ross Hills County Park, May 9, 2009. Another invasive plant, you see it everywhere over the countryside this year. Easy to spot from a distance, its lighter color stands out when it is flowering like this.

Link to autumn olive:

Link to autumn olive:

Amur honeysuckle flowering

Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii). It was just beginning to flower when this picture was taken at Ross Hills County Park, May 9, 2009.

Link to Lonicera maackii:

Fields of gold

Right now as you drive around the rural areas some of the fields have turned a solid yellow. This is the plant that is causing most of it, Packera glabella. I call it butterweed. This field is on County Road 350 just a little west of US 52. The picture was taken May 10, 2009.

Link to Packera glabella:

Here is another view of the butterweed in that field north of County Road 350.

Another link to Packera glabella:

There's another different plant that's turning fields yellow around here too. That's one of the wild mustards, Sinapis arvensis. The picture above is Sinapis arvensis, and it's in front of the same field of Packera glabella that is pictured at the top. You see the yellow clumps of Sinapis in the urbanized areas too. If you pay attention you can tell the difference between the two plants from a distance. Pictures taken May 10, 2009.

Link to Sinapis arvensis:

Another link to Sinapis arvensis:

Here is a closer look at that same wild mustard plant (Sinapis arvensis). The yellow in the background is Packera.


This is another field turned yellow with butterweed (Packera glabella). This is along US 52 about 5 miles outside of Lafayette. This picture was taken May 10, 2009.

A third kind of plant that turns fields yellow like this at this time of year is the golden ragwort (Packera aurea). This is more often found in the wooded areas though. At Soldier's Home it turns the ground yellow between the oak trees. The Packera aurea in this picture was in the woods at Ross Hills County Park, May 9, 2009.

Link to golden ragwort: