Azaleas

The spectacular Azaleas and Rhododendrons, common as ornamental shrubs, are members of the Heath family, which also includes and . A number of Azalea species are considered wild and native to this area.

Despite the name similarity, this shrub should not be confused with the Swamp Fly Honeysuckle, which is unrelated, though both and Azaleas have among the most fragrant flowers in this area. This Azalea grows intermixed with the (also quite fragrant), forming an impenetrable mass of vegetation in extensive open areas near the swamp that have been cleared of trees around 1990. At flowering time, the Azalea and Pepperbush fragrance permeates large areas of the swamp.

The leaves are hairy on the underside of the midrib. The flowers are sticky-hairy, blooming in early summer after the leaves are fully grown, and white or creamy.

This and the are closely-related, introduced shrubs with thorny stems. This one was brought to North America by early settlers from Europe, where it was grown for medicinal purposes. It was planted in monastery gardens throughout southern Europe. Because it made such a good hedge, with spines that kept livestock away, it was planted extensively on farms. It was also a source of sauces, jellies, wines, preserves and dye. But it was soon realized that this barberry is also an important host in the life cycle of to the parasitic wheat stem rust. The problem was so severe that several states in the wheat belt passed laws against growing Barberry, and until 1980 there was a federal eradication program in place. This Barberry is a common hedge, introduced, that often escapes into the wild. Its most obvious differences from the are the smooth (not toothed) leaves and small umbels of flowers instead of many-flowered racemes.

This plant does not seem to be as serious a pest (or a host for one) as the , though there is some drive to eradicate it where it invades oak woodlands and savannas in the midwest, and open and second-growth forests in the northeast. Its bright red berries, which persist into winter (and even into the next spring when leaves come out again), are eaten and readily dispersed by birds such as ruffed grouse, bobwhite and pheasant.

Bedstraws

Bedstraws and Madders comprise the large family Rubiaceae, of which there are 6000 species worldwide, primarily tropical. Substances like madder (a dye), coffee, and quinine are obtained from this family, along with the popular ornamental flower, the Gardenia. There are 20 species of Bedstraws in New England, of which a few examples are below, plus the and elsewhere in this catalog.

The genus name Galium to which the small-flowered Bedstraws and Madders belong comes from the Greek gala (“milk”), referring to former use of the Madder to curdle milk for cheese.

Except for an occasional mutant, all Bedstraws have 4-petaled flowers except the 3-petaled listed below and Clayton’s Bedstraw.

This species is fairly common in the wetter areas of the swamp (but not in standing water), and there are numerous European references to the plant from England to Italy.

It is a weak-stemmed plant, with smooth leaves in whorls of 4-6, 1/2-3/4" long. Habitat is wet meadows and swamps and it flowers throughout summer. In contrast, the Northern Bedstraw found on rocky slopes and shores has whorls of 4 and the has whorls of 7 or 8.

This Bedstraw has extremely tiny flowers barely 1/16" across that almost require a magnifying glass to count the 3 (rarely 4) petals. There are 4 leaves in each whorl. Don’t confuse G. trifidum, named for the number of petals, with G. triflorum (Sweet-scented Bedstraw) that has 4-petaled flowers in groups of 3, and leaves in whorls of 6.
The strange name comes from the two-pronged, barbed fruit that attaches to clothing. Other colorful names given to this plant include Sticktight, Old Ladies' Clothespins, Devil’s Pitchfork and Bur Marigold, although the Nodding Bur Marigold is a different species (also with barbed fruits). The flower heads are distinguished by the long, narrow leaflike bracts longer than the flowers. This species was imported as an ornamental and frequently escapes from cultivation. It grows here in crevices next to the house and rocks, and occasionally in random places on the border of the yard. It is also called the Common Garden Bellflower. Bellflowers and Bluebells form a subfamily that, together with the Lobelia subfamily, comprise the Greater Bluebell family, where all members have blue or lavender flowers, except one, the showy .

The flower is unmistakable and resembles nothing else in our area. It is very long blooming, most of the first half of summer. I saw this plant only twice in this area, though books say that it is not particularly rare in general. It grows in several spots very near the creek, blooming with a solitary drooping flower early enough in the season so that it gets some sunlight before the “jungle” canopy sets in. This species differs from two other Bellworts found in New England primarily by the way the leaves attach to the stem: “Sessile” means clasping the stem with no support. The other two Bellworts have leaves that surround the stem, so that the stem appears to be piercing the leaf. Why the common name “Wild Oats”? A mystery.

The genus name Uvularia comes from the fact that the plant was once thought to be good for treating throat diseases, because the drooping flowers resemble the uvula.