By Cynthia
Michigan, United States
Anyone know the name of this wild flower? It looks like a tiny orchid. Was growing next to my boat dock in northern Michigan. Also anyone what kind of tree this is? Also growing upnorth.
- 14 Jul, 2019
Answers
Salvia patens, the gentian sage? The tree looks like Grevillia but it's a native of Australia.
14 Jul, 2019
Thank you for your responses!!
14 Jul, 2019
I wondered about larch too. A larch loses its needles over winter and looks beautiful in spring when the new needles are fresh and bright green, so that might confirm larch or at least rule it out.
14 Jul, 2019
Maybe larch for the tree and maybe vetch for the blue flowers.
15 Jul, 2019
Larix is a European tree... but in N.A. it's commonly called tamarack... it's leaves/needles turn bright yellow in autumn and if you're in Michigan it's probably a native of the acidic northern swamps. They lose their needles, which taste mildly like pine/spruce. Good source of vitamin C when made into a tea.
Could the blue flower be a campanula? or a salvia perhaps?
15 Jul, 2019
Great! Thanks so much I really appreciate all the responses.
16 Jul, 2019
Hi Cynthia... I finally found a wildflower that looks like your blue question. at first it looked like Hairy Beardtongue.. penstemon hirsutis, then a bit like ajuga reptans, common Bugle. or Dracocephalum (Dragon head)... but came up a Brook lobelia(L. kalmii) which has the right colour flower and growth habit... or it could be L. spicata. In any case you can take a google of these and see if any of these are what you have. good luck!
17 Jul, 2019
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobelia_kalmii
here's the Wiki link.
17 Jul, 2019
I looked up wild flowers in Northern Michigan and Hairy Vetch seems a likely choice. Here is a link showing the flowers and the where the leaves are on the stem. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicia_villosa
17 Jul, 2019
Thanks so very much for all the wonderful responses!
17 Jul, 2019
on my small device the little tree looks like it could be a larch.
the blue flower isn't an orchid. the leaves are wrong. looks like it could be a salvia or even a penstemon. in otherwords I don't know.
14 Jul, 2019