Blossom of smooth yellow false foxglove. Photo by Jennifer Devine.
MI BACKYARD: I spy with my little eye…
By Jennifer Devine
A foot off the beaten path in the Huron-Manistee National Forest, I ran into the native perennial smooth yellow false foxglove (Aureolaria flava). We will call it SYFF from here on.
Nestled under white oaks, the plant was almost imperceptible until I caught the 1- to 2-inch-long yellow trumpet flower out of the corner of my eye. Turning, I noticed yellow buds atop shiny dark-green leaves running opposite the stem. The leaves felt smooth, almost plastic-like. SYFF is a 1- to 4-foot sprawling plant with a slight purple tint on the stem. Blooms start appearing in late summer.
SYFF is nicknamed “oak leach” and is hemiparasitic, meaning some of its nutritional requirements come from tapping into white oak tree roots underground. No harm is done to the tree. In fact, research shows this process is helpful to the white oak (symbiosis!) and is a sign of a mature, diverse and healthy ecosystem. SYFF contains chlorophyll and uses photosynthesis for the rest of its nutrition.
Hummingbirds and bumblebees are primary pollinators for the plant, which also hosts buckeye butterflies. In late fall, the plant dries up and turns brown. What was once a bright-yellow flower is now a 1/2-inch brown capsule containing 2-millimeter flat oval seeds ready for spreading. If you do grab a few for replanting, be sure to sow them near and under white oaks for the best results. What a beautiful, beneficial addition to your garden they would be! You could also buy seeds and start them yourself. You have a much greater chance of getting this plant to grow than starting or transplanting Sweet Fern or Indian Pipe, which are best left to nature.
A Forest Service website page describes the Idlewild Barrens off U.S. Highway 10, and how you can find a ton of smooth yellow false foxglove amongst all the other wildflowers there. To learn about the area and find roads leading to the wildflowers, go to: www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/regions/eastern/IdlewildBarrens
Note that different seasons will have different wildflower patches.
False foxgloves were first discovered in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus. In the centuries since, some descriptions and scientific names were changed. This led to many mistakes and wrong identifications until 1935, when “The Scrophulariaceae of Eastern Temperate North America” was published by Frances W. Pennell. He sorted out the confusion. After that, corrections were made to the names we see and use today. However, there is still a lot of misidentification and confusion around false foxglove plants.
There are eight recognized species of Aureolaria (false foxglove) native to the Eastern woodlands of North America. Those eight have long been considered members of the foxglove family but were moved to the closely related parasitic broomrape family.
The look-alike downy yellow false foxglove leaves have lobes or teeth. The upper leaves are fuzzy, long and slender, and come to point at the end. Then there is the fern-leaved yellow false foxglove, but I think we can all imagine what its leaves look like. Those two are very often mistaken with SYFF. Downstate you will find more of the Aureolaria species, such as the slender purple false foxglove growing on Detroit’s Belle Isle.
If you find yourself exploring MI Backyard, keep an eye out for the yellow trumpet flower, and maybe take a drive over to Idlewild.
