Blue and Purple Wildflowers of the Eastern US Quiz

Answer: chicory

The chicory with a tough stalk, growing wild along eastern U.S. roadsides, began as a wildflower in Europe, and has spread as far as North America, Australia and China. The blooms fade quickly, replaced with more the next day. Especially around New Orleans, the root historically has been roasted, ground and treated like coffee.

More recently, it's been discovered to be naturally caffeine-free, with some other healthful ingredients too, but coffee connoisseurs still aren't convinced about the taste.

Answer: violet

The shy little common violet (Viola odorata for example) can brighten shady spots in the spring, before grasses get higher and bushes spread, taking over. Edible violet blossoms can also be candied in the kitchen and preserved as a real flower to decorate cakes or cookies.

There are numerous species of the genus Viola which can resemble the common violet, but Violas can also vary in color or appearance even though they're related, like Viola tricolor, called heartsease or wild pansy, which looks like a tiny pansy with light and dark purple, plus yellow, in its blooms.

Answer: dayflower

Some people think dayflower is a noxious weed, while others think it's a delightful wildflower that just needs to be kept in bounds. A species native to India has a blue bottom petal, while an escapee from southeast Asia has a white bottom petal. Both are thoroughly naturalized in the US, so much that the Indian one was named Commelina caroliniana in the 1700s because surely it was native to the Carolina colonies.

In fact, it had probably been introduced with rice seeds.

Answer: ironweed

Ironweed (a species of the Vernonia genus) annoys both botanists and farmers. There are a thousand or more species of Vernonia worldwide that hybridize where their ranges overlap, so botanists need to struggle to keep up with new species. Horses and cows won't eat ironweed, leaving it standing in late summer where it can bloom and eventually spread more seeds in farmers' fields. If you're neither a botanist or farmer, you can just enjoy it as a very purple, very big wildflower as you drive or walk by fall fields.

Answer: blue-eyed grass

The blooms have six petals and yellow centers. There are dozens of species, though Sisyrinchium angustifolium is generally the most common in eastern Canada and the eastern U.S. and is native. It's a perennial, found in meadows, light woods and shorelines. The grass-like leaves are 6" to 20" high. Some people also grow blue-eyed grass as a cultivated flower.

Answer: Joe Pye weed

This dramatic plant shows in meadows and the edge of woodlands even when you just drive by, because of its size. The lavender is somewhat dull, but butterflies sometimes cluster around it, adding their own fluttering color. Joe Pye--probably a phonetic spelling of his name in his own language--supposedly used the plant in New England to help cure fevers, typhus or perhaps kidney stones.

The modern plant is not often specified as a medicine, perhaps because the uncertain legends contain conflicting details, and the many related common names and species make it unclear if this was even exactly what Joe Pye used and what he used it for.

Answer: Virginia bluebells

Virginia bluebells have pink buds that open into downward hanging "bells," several on a stalk. They're native to the eastern U.S. and grow all over it, where they find suitable moist woodlands. Some people haven't been able to resist growing them as plants in a shade garden too, though it goes without saying never to dig them from the wild, but order the roots from a garden store or find a friend to share some from their own garden.

Answer: aster

Asters come in white also. The purplish blue ones often have yellow centers, making them an attractive fall flower at a time when not much else is blooming. There are dozens of species in North America, separated out by the tiny details that only botanists can love, and there are even more species in Europe which haven't spread here--yet. Asters are sometimes mentioned in old herbals, but they're not often used as a modern herbal medicine.

Answer: bluets

Bluets don't mind if tree leaves shade their area in summer, because they have their blooming finished by the end of spring, before summer comes. "Bluets" is fairly straightforward as a name, but they're also called Quaker ladies, which some say may refer to the blue and white colors of clothes that Quaker women once wore.

Answer: ground ivy

Also called gill-over-the-ground, tunhoof, alehoof, catsfoot, creeping charlie, or field balm, and probably more names, it's originally from Eurasia but has been carried all over the world by European settlers. It probably picked up new names wherever it went.

It grows at the edges of lawns, around building foundations, and in poor soil in general, but gets larger in rich soil. Saxons used it in brewing before hops, hence the name alehoof, and it was also used medicinally. However, it may contain an irritating volatile oil.