My Favorite Roadside Weed - Chicory

Chicory - Cichorium intybus

Once, when I was about 20, I picked a bunch of roadside flowers for a bouquet. The bright blue flowers of chicory were particularly tempting, but I didn't realize the toughness of the woody stems. Picking them ripped up my hands, as the roadside collection trip was a spur-of-the-moment whim. To my disappointment, the blossoms only lasted a few hours, falling from the stems. Since that time, I have be happy to simply enjoy the flowers creating a blue stripe along roadsides and highways.

Native of Europe, the roots of chicory have been used as a coffee substitute. Not liking coffee, I have not tried it.

These particularly blue flowers were "captured" at Ha Ha Tonka State Park along Highway D near a parking lot on July 21, 2021.

Large-Flowered Butterfly Weed - Oenothera filiformis

I learned this plant as Gaura longiflora, but in 2007 the name was changed to Oenothera filiformis. Scientific names change for various reasons. In this case, molecular analysis showed species in four genera - Oenothera, Gaura, Steonosiphon, and Calylophus, were more closely related that previously thought based upon floral morphology (Wagner et al. 2007). There is a movement in the science of taxonomy to make our classification systems (i.e. what we name plants) reflect evolutionary relationships between species. So all the plants in these genera were placed into genus Oenothera. I am working on relearning these names.

Oenothera filiformis is a lovely plant. It can grow quite tall -up to 6 feet and has velvety foliage. The blossoms flutter in the breeze, giving the common name of Butterfly Weed (which is not the same as Butterfly Milkweed). This is a tough plant that can grow in many conditions, and can become common in "weedy" places such as roadsides, waste grounds, and railroad right-of-ways.

I "captured" this species on July 8, 2021 at a privately-owned prairie near Topeka, KS.

Wagner, W., Hoch, P., & Raven, P. (2007). Revised Classification of the Onagraceae. Systematic Botany Monographs,83, 1-240. Retrieved July 11, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25027969

Common Crown Vetch - Securigera varia

Around highway embankments near bridges and overpasses, you can often see masses of Crown Vetch - verdant green dotted with pink flowers. This perennial plant sends its stems trailing along the ground until the ascent upwards to the sun. Crown vetch has been planted along steep road cuts and embankments, as it does a really good job of holding soil into place, and its low growth form does not impede line of sight.

It is also a really pretty plant. However, Crown Vetch is not native to the US, and was brought over from Europe.

Captured June 4 2021, Kill Creek Park.

Found along the edge of the prairie at the park,

The inflorescence (a cluster of individual flowers), with typical pea family flowers.