Mystery wildflower

Posted Monday, April 23, 2012, at 6:03 PM

Mystery wildflower needing identification

Two years ago one of our garden club members asked if we knew what this flower might be. At the time, she did not have a picture so we surfed the net and possibly came up with an i.d., but we were never sure.

She did not remember seeing it last year which could imply it blooms every two years (biennial). The flower is about the size of a quarter and if I remember correctly it only stands about 4-5" high.

Another trait is that it only seems to last about 36 hours, then disappears into the background for another two years. Any of our native flower experts care to take a shot at it?

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There is a member of the Sundrop family that is short and blooms in the morning, 4 petals and as far as I can identify similar leaf.

Closest match in all my investigation.

-- Posted by Palindrome on Thu, Apr 26, 2012, at 10:30 AM

Nope, guess I can't do HTML, lol! Sorry for multi-posting.

-- Posted by craftin_mom on Wed, Apr 25, 2012, at 4:18 PM

[img]http://www.wildflowerfarm.com/images/products/C16110.JPG[/img]

Trying to display the pic for easier comparison.

-- Posted by craftin_mom on Wed, Apr 25, 2012, at 4:17 PM

I thought it was an evening primrose? http://www.wildflowerfarm.com/index.php?...

-- Posted by craftin_mom on Wed, Apr 25, 2012, at 4:16 PM

Some frost weed does resemble it but I could not find any pictures that showed 4 pedals. They all seemed to have 5, wider leaves and are taller.

Interesting details about frost weed is the icy buildup that occurs on the dormant plant during hard cold snaps. We have some in our area and I always thought it was moisture coming up from the ground and happened to attach to a plant, not that the actual weed was causing the excess moisture.

-- Posted by stevemills on Tue, Apr 24, 2012, at 5:57 PM

We have these growing in our front yard. Ours do bloom every year, normally at the beginning of spring. Also, they are open and shining in the cool mornings but close as it starts to warm up. I googled it and it may be called a frost weed. I am not an expert or anywhere near one. It's just a guess.

-- Posted by PrpleHze on Tue, Apr 24, 2012, at 9:13 AM

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Steve Mills

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Steve Mills and his wife have one daughter and live on a farm outside of Bell Buckle. They previously owned two coffee/ice cream shops, currently operate an internet sales company and teach classes, but his primary job involves the paper industry worldwide. Hobbies and interests lie in gardening, photography, recorded music and of course, their pets.

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