Spotted Hawkweed

Spotted Hawkweed
Hieracium spilophaeum 'Leopard'
(hi-er-uh-KEE-um) (spee-lo-FAY-um)
Synonyms: Hieracium maculatum

This post was originally going to be about some of the flowers I saw last week in Southern California but yesterday on a quick trip to Manhattan I decided to stop at the Conservatory Garden in Central park and on the way home Wave Hill in the Bronx. The Central Park garden was finished for the year. There were a few flowers if one looked hard for them but even most of the fall foliage had come down. It did yield the bonus picture for today.

Unusual mottled foliage of Hawkweed

The cute little yellow daisy was growing in a stonewall at Wave Hill. I hadn’t seen Spotted Hawkweed for so many years I forgotten about it. The flowers usually bloom in the summer but there were several out yesterday. I have always wanted this blog to feature flower pics that I had shot the day before and I lived up to that today. Wave Hill had a couple of other flowers out in the garden and as always the conservatory yielded some interesting blooms.

For more flower pictures from around the world check out:
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Today’s bonus picture is a tree not a flower.


Sassafras
Sassafras albidum
(SASS-uh-frass) (AL-bi-dum)
Synonyms: Tea Tree, Mitten Tree, Cinnamonwood

This is a fun native tree to me although some people find it a bit invasive. We are always trying to encourage them to grow at the estate with mixed results. It is difficult to buy from nurseries because of the long taproot but a few places are now offering container specimens. The fall color is lovely and if you look at the leaves hard you can find three distinct shapes growing on one tree. The leaves and roots have medicinal value for a variety of ailments but should be used with caution.