The tall goldenrod, Solidago altissima, is suddenly shoulder high. Georgia has about 35 species of goldenrod, and this is the one I can identify. Later this summer, the plants I saw might get to 7 feet.
Height is a rough way to identify a plant. Sorting out the other species is beyond my abilities.
But since I know what a basal leaf is, I can distinguish two groups: clumping and rhizomatous. Clumping goldenrods have basal leaves. Each plant will spread its seeds, of course, but the plant itself will stay put. Rhizomatous species, like S. altissima, also spread by their roots. S. altissima is the most common goldenrod here because one soon becomes many.
The ripe berries on American pokeweed, Phytolacca americana, are mostly gone, picked over by songbirds.
What’s blooming in the woods: Liliturfs, in genus Liriope; pigeonwings, Clitoria mariana; and wild potato vine, Ipomoea pandurate. I saw some Asiatic dayflowers, Commelina communis. They are a lovely blue — the blue in the French flag — but invasive. I also saw one Hibiscus, which escaped someone’s garden and seemed to be thriving in the woods.
On the ground: persimmons, hickory nuts and green muscadines knocked down by the storms.
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