common yarrow

Here is Achillea millefolium of the family asteraceae:

This is another example of a highly successful invasive species.  Though A. millefolium can claim native status in parts of the United States, it has found its way throughout the continent.  This plant appears to have a colorful heritage, illuminated here, that includes extensive use as a medicinal herb, beer brewing and Neanderthal burial rites. 

The photo above was taken in June of 2009 along the I-57 corridor near an on-ramp.

red clover

Here is Trifolium pratense in the family of fabaceae:

This example of red clover was captured in Illinois, along side an on ramp to I-57 on June 13, 2009.  It was a rather large patch of all sorts of flowers and I first took this to be Persian clover, which I have already posted, but the size of the plant wasn't quite the same.  I took a few pictures, as an afterthought, to look more closely later and too my surprise, it was a different species. 

This plant was introduced to the North American continent from Europe and has been exceedingly successful.  It can be found throughout the Lower 48, Alaska, Greenland and above the Arctic circle in Canada.  It has been proclaimed the State Flower of Vermont.  It has avoided designation as a noxious plant, but more than that, attained to the status of Wetland Indicator. 

I suppose T. pratense is a story of an immigrant plant that we can all admire and hold up to our friends in the Plant Kingdom as an example of how an invasive species should behave.

Johnsongrass

This is another example of the poaceae family, Sorghum halepense:

 and a close up:

These pictures were taken at Mule Jail on June 4, 2011.  S. halepense has been introduced to North America and can be found throughout the lower 48, Alaska, Hawaii and Porto Rico, as well as parts of Canada.  It is considered a noxious weed (crowds out the native species).