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Robinia hispida
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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
- These plants are growing on a stretch of property that has an unused leach field under it and the area grew in with all sorts of stuff. It's partly sunny. The plants are tall, some about six feet, some less, with a big white-ish flower. This is in western Mass on the eastern slopes of the Berkshires.
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- Dear CarolBEE, good afternoon. You have photographed a species of Eutrochium (Joe-pye weed). I can't tell you who it is, but based on the size of the flowers heads and the shape of the flower head arrays, it looks like a species other than E. maculatum. (Tuesday, 16 August 2022)
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- This is a resubmit with photos! These plants started growing this spring in a dry spot in my garden under some milkweed. I have never seen them before. I saw some in a few other spots. Maybe they were in some compost I bought from a farm. I pulled some out but was curious and waited for flowers, but there have not been any. They are about four inches tall, so slow growers. Eastern slopes of the Berkshires in western MA.
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- Dear CarolBEE, I do not know for certain who these are, but they remind me of yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis) seedlings. You could confirm by scratching the stem and smelling for a wintergreen odor. If they are not yellow birch seedlings, email me at ahaines@nativeplanttrust.org so we can continue to problem solve your question. (Tuesday, 16 August 2022)
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- Hello, Photographed this back in July when I was looking for Virginia marsh-St John's-wort, marked it for some kind of dodder, and put the photo aside. Now wondering if this is common dodder (Cuscuta gronovii), and why if it's regarded as a native invasive species, it's so rare in RI (as to warrant an "S1" ranking.) Why wouldn't it be more abundant? Or is it? Probably a good thing it's not though. Thanks!
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- Dear sldz22, the images are of a species of Cuscuta in which the flowers are in bud. Unfortunately, I would need open flowers to be able to identify this plant. If you have later images so I can view the open flowers to get accurate counts of perianth and their shape/relative length, I should be able to assist you. (Tuesday, 16 August 2022)
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