UW Wildflowers

UW Campus
Day, 2012
5/9/12
1:30-3:30

Today I went all over campus looking at wildflowers for our iNaturalist project [http://www.inaturalist.org/projects/uw-wildflowers]. Most of the species around campus are obviously planted but I did find a few that looked like they could be native. It was interesting though to see all the plants the campus chose to use to decorate the landscape. For instance, I saw a lot of bluebells, ceanothus, and azaleas.

Bluebells were in areas that were slightly more “protected” I guess; in places like the Quad. They were mostly blue hybrid bluebells but I did see some white hybrids too.

I kept seeing ceanothus around campus as well. They had dark shiny green leaves and tiny blue flowers in bunches. The stamen had yellow tips that I'm assuming were pollen because bees were really attracted to this plant. I see ceanothus a lot around the Seattle neighborhood. It’s really pretty but I thought it was interesting people like to plant this so much because of all the bees.

Finally, rhododendrons were actually everywhere. I saw the big 10-15’ rhododendron trees and the small azalea bushes in just about every area of campus I visited. The big trees were much more abundant than the small azalea bushes though.

The best part of going out and taking pictures for the website was just wandering and seeing what’s on campus. I hadn’t really taken that much time to observe the plants around campus before. Though it’s too bad there aren’t more native species and that at least most of the wildflowers and trees/shrubs with flowers were planted.

Species List:
Daphne
Carpet Bugle
Camellias
Azalia
Stinking hellebore
Common Dandelion
Daisy
Greater Periwinkle
Red Baneberry
Common Vetch
Pacific Bleeding Heart
Hybrid bluebell
Chinese Caps
Irises
Wood Sorrel

Posted on June 5, 2012 12:34 AM by lisad22 lisad22

Observations

Photos / Sounds

What

Daphnes (Genus Daphne)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

Planted shrub with tiny pink/white flowers. Leaves had a white outline. This bush was in bloom and maybe towards the end of its season since many of the flowers were starting to wilt.

Photos / Sounds

What

Carpet Bugle (Ajuga reptans)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

Purple flowers standing. They don't appear to have been planted. Tiny yellow stamen and fuzzy leaves (?) between flowers.

Photos / Sounds

What

Dicots (Class Magnoliopsida)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

Lots of green leaves with prominant creases and edges. The bigger white flowers had about 4 petals each with tiny white flowers blooming among them.

Photos / Sounds

What

Mexican Orange (Choisya ternata)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

5-6 long white petals on these small flowers. Shiny green leaves. Balled yellow pollen/stamen(?)

Photos / Sounds

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

Green bush planted around the building. New leaves are growing and small white 3-petal flowers are blooming at the ends of these new leaves.

Photos / Sounds

What

Rhododendrons and Azaleas (Genus Rhododendron)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Place

Guggenheim (Google, OSM)

Description

White flowers with green leaves. Leaves were slightly fuzzy on the edges. Flowers have brown cheetah-like spots inside and stamen (the one in the center had a yellow tip). Most of these flowers were in bloom.

Photos / Sounds

What

Common Vetch (Vicia sativa)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

Tiny purple flowering plant at the base of the white budding plant (see previous observation). Doesn't appear to be planted there so this may be a native species.

Photos / Sounds

What

Hybrid Rhododendron (Rhododendron × hybridum)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

White flower in bloom on this bush. The flower looks like a rhodadendron so this may actually be a small type of rhodadendra tree (but maybe not since the flowers aren't in bunches).

Photos / Sounds

What

Camellias (Genus Camellia)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

Flowering tree. Most of the flowers were lighter pink but this one was the darkest and prettiest. A lot of the flowers were actually dying or falling off so maybe this tree was getting towards the end of its flowering season (if it has a season).

Photos / Sounds

What

Hybrid Rhododendron (Rhododendron × hybridum)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

Saw lots of these around campus. Even though there are a lot of these, they were probably all planted becasue azaleas are native to the more southern and eastern parts of the US.

Photos / Sounds

What

Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

Dandelion seed head (not yellow). I looked it up and apparently bees are attracted to the dandelions when they are yellow. The bees pollinate the plant and, once this happens, the dandelions reproduce by creating seeds and changing color (to the white pictured). Then they can be blown away and create more dandelions.

Photos / Sounds

What

Lawn Daisy (Bellis perennis)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

Common daisy. Not sure what the difference between Bellis perennis and Chrysanthemum majus is though.

Photos / Sounds

What

Elephant-Ears (Genus Bergenia)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

Really pigmented downward-facing flowers. The most recently bloomed ones appeared to be magenta and then turned dark purple when they were older and dying.
Big green shiny leaves and thick stem.

Photos / Sounds

What

Lesser Periwinkle (Vinca minor)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

Purple flower scattered throughout this bush of small shiny green leaves. 5 petals, star shape in the middle. This is another plant that I saw multiple times around campus.

Photos / Sounds

What

Rock Crane's-Bill (Geranium macrorrhizum)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

5 petals, really long stamen with little cavities at the ends. Like the periwinkle it's next to, the plant has pink flowers that are spread throughout the light green leaves.

Photos / Sounds

What

Saxifrage Family (Family Saxifragaceae)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

Small white flowers with lots of stamen with pink salmon colored tips (anthers).

Photos / Sounds

What

Hellebores (Genus Helleborus)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

I'm not sure what the 6 things in the middle of the flower are. I looked it up and apparently these flowers are poisonous.

Photos / Sounds

What

Redwood Sorrel (Oxalis oregana)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

Small white flowers with pink/purple veins. They were placed sporadically throughout this clover bush.

Photos / Sounds

What

Asian Bleeding-Heart (Lamprocapnos spectabilis)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

Really vibrant pink bleeding heart. I couldn't tell if this was planted or not because there was only one bleeding heart plant among other plants that didn't seem to be planted there either. Also, I was unsure since it is native to the pacific NW.

Photos / Sounds

What

Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

Seem many times around campus.

Photos / Sounds

What

Hybrid Bluebell (Hyacinthoides × massartiana)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

Planted along side the Music Library building by the stairs. I'm pretty sure this is a hybrid bluebell. It was between hybrid and spanish, but the hybrid bluebell's stamen looks more like the one I saw.

Photos / Sounds

What

Bearded Iris (Iris × germanica)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

Really deep purple flower among really big but also regular size grass.

Photos / Sounds

What

Euphorbia (Subgenus Esula)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

Really cool green flowers with only two petals. They looked like they were sitting on lily pads. They were probably planted since they were right next to planted bluebells infront of the building.

Photos / Sounds

What

Hybrid Bluebell (Hyacinthoides × massartiana)

Observer

lisad22

Date

May 9, 2012

Description

I looked it up and apparently hybrid bluebells can be both blue and white.

Comments

No comments yet.

Add a Comment

Sign In or Sign Up to add comments