For Your Garden - July 2021

Native plants provide beauty as well as food and shelter for wildlife. Native species are adapted to the Illinois climate. They require little or no watering and are resistant to drought, insects and most diseases. Because they are perennials, you can welcome their presence year after year.

yellow puccoon (Lithospermum incisum)
Photo © River Valley Photographic Resources Ltd., rvprltd.com

Also known as the fringed puccoon, the yellow puccoon can be found statewide in prairies, although it is more common in the northern one-half of the state than elsewhere. Flowers are produced from April through June. They have yellow petals that are crinkled and toothed at the end. The five petals per flower are situated at the end of a tube. This plant’s leaves are narrow, usually less than one-fourth inch wide. The flowers develop in a cluster at the stem tip and may curl downward. A single plant may be up to 15 inches tall.

Classification and taxonomy are based on Mohlenbrock, Robert H. 2014. Vascular flora of Illinois: A field guide. Fourth edition. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. 536 pp.

​Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Anthophyta
Class: Dicotyledonae
Order: Lamiales
Family: Boraginaceae