Vascular Plants of Vermont

Filipendula rubra, also known as Queen-of-the-prairie, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae native to shady and moist habitats throughout northeastern and central USA. The plant can grow in either sunlight of part shady regions. The plant can grow in the shade if the soil is not always kept moist, the shade helps keep the soil from drying out from direct sunlight which causes a quicker evaporation of the water present in the... less ↑

Asplenium ruta-muraria is a species of fern commonly known as wall-rue. In Germany, it is known as Mauerraute or Mauerstreifenfarn. It is a very small epipetric species, growing exclusively on limestone and other calcareous rocks. It is native to both Europe and eastern North America. In Europe, it commonly invades masonry and is a common species, while in the United States, it is more difficult to find, favoring pockets in very well-weathered and rather dry limestone... less ↑

Physostegia virginiana (obedient plant, obedience, or false dragonhead) is a species of flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to North America, where it is distributed from eastern Canada to northern Mexico.Physostegia are known commonly as obedient plants because a flower pushed to one side will often stay in that position. The name false dragonhead refers to the dragonheads of the related Dracocephalum, a genus to which the plant once belonged. less ↑

Wild bergamot or bee balm (Monarda fistulosa) is a wildflower in the mint family (Lamiaceae) widespread and abundant as a native plant in much of North America. This plant, with showy summer-blooming white flowers, is often used as a honey plant, medicinal plant, and garden ornamental. The species is quite variable, and several subspecies or varieties have been recognized within it. less ↑

Picea glauca (white spruce) is a species of spruce native to the northern temperate and boreal forests in North America, from central Alaska to as far east as the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland, and south to northern Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, northwestern Pennsylvania, upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine; there is also an isolated population in the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming. It is also known as Canadian spruce, skunk spruce, cat... less ↑

Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (L.) G L Nesom. (formerly Aster novae-angliae L.), commonly known as the New England Aster or Michaelmas Daisy, is a flowering herbaceous perennial plant in the Asteraceae family. It is native to almost every area in North America east of the Rocky Mountains, but excluding the far north of Canada as well as some of the southern United States. Symphyotrichum novae-angliae was introduced to Europe in 1710; a common garden escape, it has naturalized less ↑

Clematis occidentalis is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family known by the common name western blue virginsbower. It is native to much of southern Canada and the northern United States. There are three varieties: var. occidentalis is limited to the eastern half of the species' range, var. grosseserrata to the western half, and var. dissecta is endemic to Washington. The plant varies somewhat in appearance. Generally they produce vines and climb on surfaces.... less ↑

Wild rice (also called Canada rice, Indian rice, and water oats) are four species of grasses forming the genus Zizania, and the grain which can be harvested from them. The grain was historically gathered and eaten in both North America and China. While it is now a delicacy in North America, the grain is eaten less in China,:165 where the plant's stem is used as a vegetable. less ↑

Scirpus ancistrochaetus is a rare species of flowering plant in the sedge family known by the common name northeastern bulrush. It is native to the northeastern United States from New Hampshire south to Virginia. It used to be found in Quebec but it is now thought to be extirpated there. It was also believed extirpated from the state of New York, but at least one population has been rediscovered in Steuben County in 2010. It is... less ↑

Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), also called orangeroot or yellow puccoon, is a perennial herb in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to southeastern Canada and the northeastern United States. It may be distinguished by its thick, yellow knotted rootstock. The stem is purplish and hairy above ground and yellow below ground where it connects to the yellow rhizome. The plant bears two palmate, hairy leaves with 5–7 double-toothed lobes and single, small, inconspicuous flowers with greenish white stamens... less ↑

Eupatorium perfoliatum or (Common) Boneset is a common perennial plant native to the Eastern United States and Canada, with a range from Nova Scotia to Florida, as well as from Louisiana and Texas through North Dakota. It is also called "agueweed", "feverwort" or "sweating-plant". It was introduced to American colonists by Indians who used the plant for breaking fevers by means of heavy sweating. It is nearly always found in low, wet areas and is often... less ↑

Ageratina altissima, also known as white snakeroot,richweed,white sanicle, or tall boneset, is a poisonous perennial herb in the family Asteraceae, native to eastern North America. An older binomial name for this species was Eupatorium rugosum, but the genus Eupatorium has undergone taxonomic revision by botanists and a number of the species once included there have been moved to other genera. less ↑

Lonicera canadensis (American/Canadian fly honeysuckle) is a flowering deciduous, perennial, phanerophytic shrub which is monoclinous and grows 1–2 m tall. It is the only member of its genus with hairless leaf structures. It typically flowers from the last week of April until the third or fourth week of May. Fruit appears approximately the first week of June until the first week of August. The fruit is feed upon by a variety of avian frugivores including the... less ↑

Actaea racemosa (black cohosh, black bugbane, black snakeroot, fairy candle; syn. Cimicifuga racemosa) is a species of flowering plant of the family Ranunculaceae. It is native to eastern North America from the extreme south of Ontario to central Georgia, and west to Missouri and Arkansas. It grows in a variety of woodland habitats, and is often found in small woodland openings. The roots and rhizomes have long been used medicinally by Native Americans. Extracts from these... less ↑

Apios americana, sometimes called the potato bean, hopniss, Indian potato or groundnut (but not to be confused with other plants sometimes known by the name groundnut) is a perennial vine native to eastern North America, and bears edible beans and large edible tubers. It grows to 3–4 m long, with pinnate leaves 8–15 cm long with 5–7 leaflets. The flowers are red-brown to purple, produced in dense racemes. The fruit is a legume (pod) 6–12 cm... less ↑

Vitis riparia Michx, also commonly known as River Bank Grape or Frost Grape, is a native American climbing or trailing vine, widely distributed from Quebec to Texas, and Montana to New England. It is long-lived and capable of reaching into the upper canopy of the tallest trees. It produces dark fruit that are appealing to both birds and people, and has been used extensively in commercial viticulture as grafted rootstock and in hybrid grape breeding programs. less ↑

Solidago caesia, commonly named blue-stemmed goldenrod or wreath goldenrod, is a flowering plant in North America. It is present in the eastern United States to eastern Canada and south-central United States. Key identification features include a dark, wiry stem and flowers in the axils with a larger terminal bloom. Prefers dry soils and full sun, but moderately shade tolerant. less ↑

Gentiana clausa (Bottle Gentian) is a 1'-2' tall flowering plant in the Gentianaceae family. It is native to Eastern North American moist meadows and woods at higher elevations, from Quebec in the north, through the Appalachian range to North Carolina and Tennessee in the south. It has paired, lanceolate leaves, usually on unbranched stalks, and blue blooms which remain closed or nearly so (thus the Latin specific name). It flowers from late August to October less ↑

Pinguicula vulgaris, the Common butterwort, is a perennial carnivorous plant in the Lentibulariaceae family. It grows to a height of 3–16 cm, and is topped with a purple, and occasionally white, flower that is 15 mm or longer, and shaped like a funnel. This butterwort grows in damp environs such as bogs and swamps, in low or subalpine elevations. It has a generally circumboreal distribution, being native to almost every country in Europe as well as Russia, Canada,... less ↑

Woodwardia virginica (Virginia chain fern, Woodwardie de virginie) is a leptosporangiate fern with long creeping, scaly, underground stems or rhizomes which give rise to tall (up to about 4 feet, 120 centimetres) widely separated, deciduous, single leaves. In contrast, the leaves of Osmundastrum cinnamomeum, which can be mistaken for W. virginica, grow in a group from a crown. Also in contrast to O. cinnamomeum the leaves are monomorphic without distinct fertile fronds. The lower petiole or stipe is... less ↑

Asplenium montanum, commonly known as the mountain spleenwort, is a small fern of the Appalachian Mountains. First described in 1810, it grows in small crevices in sandstone cliffs with highly acid soil. It can be recognized by its dark blue-green, highly divided leaves. A. montanum is the ancestor, through hybridization, of several other ferns of similar habitat. less ↑

Asplenium platyneuron (syn. Asplenium ebeneum), commonly known as ebony spleenwort or brownstem spleenwort, is a fern native to North America east of the Rocky Mountains and to South Africa. It takes its common name from its dark, reddish-brown, glossy stipe and rachis (stem and leaf axis), which bear a once-divided, pinnate leaf. The fertile fronds, which die off in the winter, are darker green and stand upright, while the sterile fronds are evergreen and lie flat... less ↑

Thelypteris noveboracensis, or the New York fern, is a fern found throughout the eastern United States and Canada. It is distinctive by its pinnae tapering to the base of the frond, and by its forming extensive clonal colonies on ridgetops and mountain benches. The only other native species in this area with similarly tapering pinnae is the ostrich fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris, which generally grows in riparian habitats. The only other species that forms as extensive clonal... less ↑

Pellaea glabella is the smooth cliffbrake. For much of pteridological history, it was regarded as a reduced form or variety of Pellaea atropurpurea. P. glabella is known to exist in two cryptic species, one diploid and one tetraploid. The diploid reproduces sexually, while the tetraploid is normally apogamous. It is now known that the tetraploid form of the species is one of the parents of the original hybrid P. Xatropurpurea that became the apogamous species. less ↑

Diphasiastrum digitatum is known as Groundcedar or Crowsfoot, along with other members of its genus, but the common name Fan Clubmoss can be used to refer to it specifically. It is the most common species of Diphasiastrum in North America. It is a type of plant known as a clubmoss, which is within one of the three main divisions of living vascular plants. It was formerly included in the superspecies Diphasiastrum complanatum. For many years, this... less ↑

Schizachyrium scoparium, commonly known as little bluestem or beard grass, is a North American prairie grass. Little bluestem is a perennial bunchgrass and is prominent in tallgrass prairie, along with big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans) and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). It is a warm-season species, meaning it employs the C4 photosynthetic pathway. less ↑

The Chinese water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis; synonyms E. equisetina, E. indica, E. plantaginea, E. plantaginoides, E. tuberosa, E. tumida), more often called simply the water chestnut, is a grass-like sedge grown for its edible corms. The water chestnut is actually not a nut at all, but an aquatic vegetable that grows in marshes, underwater in the mud. It has tube-shaped, leafless green stems that grow to about 1.5 metres. The water caltrop, which is also referred... less ↑

Anthriscus sylvestris, known as cow parsley,wild chervil,wild beaked parsley, keck, or Queen Anne's lace, is a herbaceous biennial or short-lived perennial plant in the family Apiaceae, genus Anthriscus. It is also sometimes called mother-die (especially in the UK), a name that is also applied to the common hawthorn. It is native to Europe, western Asia and northwestern Africa; in the south of its range in the Mediterranean region, it is limited to higher altitudes. It is... less ↑

Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed, rose milkweed, swamp silkweed, and white Indian hemp) is a herbaceous perennial plant species native to North America. It grows in damp to wet soils and also is cultivated as a garden plant for its flowers, which attract butterflies and other pollinators with nectar. Like most other milkweeds, it has sap containing toxic chemicals, a characteristic that repels insects and other herbivorous animals. less ↑

Asclepias exaltata is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae known by the common names poke milkweed and tall milkweed. It is native to eastern North America. It blooms from late spring to early summer. The flowers are green and white. Poke milkweed is found in moist woodland habitats. It grows in moist soil and sunny or partly shaded places. It grows from 0.6 to 1.5 meters tall (2–5 feet). less ↑

Cynanchum louiseae, a species in the milkweed family, is also known as Black swallow-wort, Louise's swallow-wort., or Black dog-strangling vine,Cynanchum louiseae is a species of plant that is native to Europe and is found primarily in Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain. It is an invasive plant species in the northeastern United States, parts of the Midwest, southeastern Canada, and California. less ↑

Anemone virginiana is an upright growing herbaceous plant species in the genus Anemone and family Ranunculaceae. Plants grow 30–80 centimetres (12–31 in) tall, flowering early summer but often found flowering till late summer, the flowers are white or greenish-white. After flowering the fruits are produced in a dense rounded thimble shaped spikes 15–35 millimetres (0.59–1.4 in) long and 12 millimetres (0.47 in) wide. When the fruits, called achenes, are ripe they have gray-white colored, densely woolly styles, that allow... less ↑