ROADWEEDS OF THE UPPER PENINSULA
Purple or Blue Flowers | |
Yellow Flowers | |
White Flowers | |
Green Flowers | |
Orange/Red/Pink Flowers | |
Grasses | |
Click on one of the above icons | |
A list of species included |
The flowers are arranged by color. Each "color" page has a representative "thumbnail" photo of each flower. If you "click" on the thumbnail, the image will expand. Click on your back button to return to where you were. Some species have more photos and more information that you can "link" to. Just click on the "" icon.
Many roadside plants are aliens, or exotic species. That means they are not native to the Upper Peninsula. Exotics are indicated by the "" icon. Some of the exotics are invasive, which means they can aggressively replace native vegetation. Such a change in vegetation often means fewer native plants and unfavorable wildlife habitat changes. Sometimes native endangered species can be put at risk. Two particularly troublesome species are purple loosestrife and spotted knapweed. They both have purple flowers. Most of these roadside plants are tough hombres. They survive in hostile environments along the roads. Salt, poor soil, oils & greases, compaction, regular scraping from plows, and the occasional maintenance of road shoulders make for mighty difficult living conditions. Note that the terms "wildflower", "weed", and "invasive" have specific meanings to botanists.
Sources for the information on this website include Voss (Michigan Flora), Gleason & Cronquist (Manual of Vascular Plants), DNR list of Endangered & Threatened species, a handout called "Michigan's Upper Peninsula Weeds", a handout called "Common Wildflowers of Michigan's Upper Peninsula", and some conversations with various natural resource folks.
This website was constructed by Bill Cook. If you have questions or comments about the information on this page, contact Bill.
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