Road Trip: Heal-all, Hawthorn, Herb Robert, Rudbeckia lancinata

All of the above plants are distributed in Maryland but not as common as in Ontario.  We were visiting the old family homestead in Lowville, Ontario.  The easiest way to ID plants when visiting is to ask the ranger or guide.  We did do a simple dichotomous key on the hawthorn, and the heal-all was courtesy of a neighbor.

There was a line of Hawthorns across the road from the Pickett Octagon House.  That is a clue since they were probably planted rather than naturally occurring .  The there was a woody single trunk and a spreading 20 foot tall tree. The key calls the small fruits "pommes" like crab apples.  There were simple serrated alternate leaves, round to oval. We had no flowers at this time of year.  With the thorns the simple key diagnosed Hawthorn.  Since it might be imported and with no flowers we went no further in species etc.  The illustrations are from the internet, my branch was not well-preserved.

A reason to plant,the spring flowers

Illustration to show rust but here to show the thorns.

Illustration of Hawthorn leaves and thorns. There was a question of twice serrated or lobed.

The ranger pointed out the Herb Robert (? row-bear).  This is said to be endangered in Maryland but an invasive in Washington State. There is the fernlike leave and the five petal purple to pink flower. It is in the geranium family.  Robert may have been a French monk who used the plant to cure a variety of illnesses. Or the "robert" may be a corruption of a term for red-stem. It was in the Niagara gorge, compatible with its preference for rocky moist environments.

Heal-all was a small ground cover plant in an empty lot.  It was about the size of purple false nettle. It was wide-spread and may be in the neighborhood just not very prominent.  As the name says it cures everything and has no side effects. Latin is Prunella vulgaris .  It is said to be edible, both flowers and leaves.

On the way home we took a break at Hancock Md to walk along the canal towpath.  There was this tall aster with trefoil type leaves.  It looked a little like black-eyed Susan but twice the height. There is a tall form of Rudbeckia and along the Potomac was a typical location.

this was a six foot tall version of Rudbeckia seen along the Potomac River, differential of wing stem,  artichoke ,and coneflowers