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Mystery wildflower! I'm stumped!

17 years ago

I know the answer to this must be easy, but I am completely stumped. This one isn't in any of my wildflower books for New York/Northeast.

While in the Finger Lakes National Forest, I spotted a 2-3 foot tall plant which, at first glance, I thought was just a Garlic Mustard. Some of the leaves looked very similar (sort of triangular/heartshaped, and toothed), and it was growing near a garlic mustard patch. But it wasn't that.

This one has got smallish (3/8") yellow flowers that look like small dandelion heads. The flowers come out of small roundish buds. (It's not Hawkweed - the leaves are totally different; it's also not Goat's Beard, as the flower buds are different.) The flowers live only a short time, possibly just a day, and then shrivel up and turn black.

The leaves are very interesting: when new (near the top of the stem), they are long and bladelike, but as they mature they grow wider and sort of heartshaped, and the most mature leaves have pinnate leaflets emerging below them on the leafstalk.

It's an innocuous looking plant but the fact that I can't find it in a wildflower guide is driving me crazy! What is it? any suggestions?

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Comments (7)

ebedgert
Original Author
17 years ago
Here is a not very good picture of the plant. Wish I'd taken a better one.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/upstateny/3655134533/
raydun
17 years ago
Without a picture of the leaves your plant is a tough one to identify, I'm currently working on one with a similar description. Your best bet is to look through the flower pics at http://www.missouriplants.com/index.html, a truely excellent resource. (Try the section titled Yellow Flowers - Alternate Leaves)
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ebedgert
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks for the resource - I've bookmarked it. Unfortunately, my flower is not there either.

So far, I've ruled out Krigia, Sonchus, any kind of dandelion, false dandelion, hawkweed or goat's beard. It definitely didn't have basal leaves, for starters.

I saw two examples of this flower about 70 yards apart at a campground in the Finger Lakes National Forest (moist woodland) in central NY state. They were not numerous.

In habit and leaves, it was very reminiscent of garlic mustard - that was what made me do a double take. (see garlic mustard here: http://www.ipaw.org/invaders/garlic_mustard/gm_flower_lg.jpg) - but obviously with a flower like that, it's not in the mustard family.

It would seem to be in the aster family - and the flower sort of reminded me of a small, delicate yellow chicory bloom. I'm trying to find an aster genus that would have leaves like that, though.
carol23_gw
17 years ago
You might try Connecticut Wildflower.

Here is a link that might be useful: yellow flowers
ebedgert
Original Author
17 years ago
It's likely I'll never find out what it was, so I'm just going to guess it's a less common form of hawkweed.

Canadian hawkweed has leaves that *somewhat* resemble what I saw (mine had broader established leaves however):

http://www.voyageurcountry.com/htmls/floweringplants/plants/hawkweedcanada.html

I did not know that some hawkweeds lose their basal leaves at flowering time, which might explain why I didn't see any basal leaves.
lycopus
17 years ago
Hawkweeds have imbricate involucral bracts, unlike your flower.

I suspect the plant was Lapsana communis, or Nipplewort.
ebedgert
Original Author
17 years ago
Indeed, it is nipplewort!

Thank you for the ID, lycopus. It was driving me crazy.

Here is a link that might be useful:

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