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Turritis glabra
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Our ace botanists are here to help you identify wild New England plants and to answer questions about their ecology and conservation. When posting a question, please provide the location, habitat (e.g. river, mountain, woodland), and photographs of the plant.
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Recently answered questions
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- Question
- Is this tree located in Benson, VT green ash (F. pennsylvanica)?
- Answer
- Dear mmchugh, good morning. The plant certainly looks like Fraxinus pensylvanica. The pubescence of the branchlets and leaves are good identifying characters, as are the lateral leaf scars that are not strongly concave on the distal (i.e., upper) margin. Fraxinus nigra would often have another pair of leaflets (or more) and would show sessile (i.e., unstalked) leaflets. Best wishes. (Tuesday, 28 October 2025)
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- Question
- I posted a question earlier about a plant that I thought could be Roseroot. Looking carefully at the plant and the flowers (photos were posted earlier), I think I was wrong and that the plant might be Narrow leafed bush clover, Lespedeza angustifolia. Close look at the fresh flowers, they seem to be cream colored and there are purple spots. And the fuzzy leaves seem to be in three leaflets when they are pulled away from the stalk. And it’s a local plant, not an unusual one. Carol Knox
- Answer
- Dear Carol, good morning again. You are in the correct genus, but Lespeza angustifolia has very narrow leaflets and typically occurs on coastal plain pond shores (i.e., in a specialized habitat). The plants are more likely Lespedeza capitata or a hybrid with that species. Best wishes. (Tuesday, 28 October 2025)
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- Question
- A friend, (Cathy Williamson), found & photographed this plant in West Falmouth, MA. Her phone id was 'Goldenroot'. Because she hadn't seen this plant before, she asked me to id it for her. I thought perhaps Rhodiola rosea L. using my guides and the NE Flora. Cathy collected a flowering stalk, which I photographed and pressed. Attached are Cathy's photos of the collection site and my photographs of the collected stalk. Normal range for Rhodiola is not MA, so maybe I'm wrong. Thanks, Carol Knox
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- Dear Carol, good morning to you. This is a species of Lespedeza (bush-clover). I'm not able to give you a confident identification with the images supplied, in part due to the extensive hybridization that occurs in this genus. The corolla color suggests and leaflet dimensions suggest this is allied to Lespedeza capitata. It may be that species or a hybrid with it. I would not be able to tell you more without a specimen. Best wishes. (Tuesday, 28 October 2025)
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