Best Meadow

Common camas, Camassia quamash, is a bulb-forming perennial wildflower native to western North America. It produces clusters of blue to violet, star-shaped flowers in spring and commonly grows in seasonally moist meadows and open grasslands. Its cooked bulbs were an important food and trade resource...

The Carpathian dancing grasshopper *Chorthippus oschei* is a species of acridid grasshopper found within the Carpathian Basin. It’s notable for its complex and elaborate song produced during mating season, a behavior observed in gomphocerine grasshoppers. This insect is primarily studied by entomolo...

The Tian Shan montane steppe and meadows represent a significant ecological zone spanning parts of China and Central Asia. This expansive area features high grasslands within the Tian Shan mountain range, characterized by diverse plant life including steppes and meadows. It is a crucial habitat for...

The Purple Fringed Orchid is a wildflower species native to meadows across North America. It’s recognized by its distinctive deep purple petals heavily fringed along their edges, a characteristic crucial for attracting butterflies and facilitating pollination. These orchids are primarily found in op...

Wild pansy, Viola tricolor, is a small annual or short-lived perennial native to Europe and parts of western Asia. Its flowers commonly combine violet, blue, yellow, and white, giving rise to the name heartsease and other traditional names. The species contributed genetically to the cultivated garde...

Closed gentian, Gentiana andrewsii, is a perennial wildflower native to eastern and central North America. Its blue to violet flowers remain closed or nearly closed at maturity, and strong insects such as bumblebees can force their way between the petals to reach the nectar. The plant blooms late in...

A Eurasian annual widely naturalized in North America, valued for centuries in herbal medicine for its anti-inflammatory properties and commonly brewed as a calming tea.

Common yarrow, Achillea millefolium, is an aromatic perennial herb native across much of the temperate Northern Hemisphere and naturalized elsewhere. It has finely divided, fernlike leaves and flat-topped clusters of small flowers, usually white but sometimes pink. The genus name refers to Achilles,...

The Shamrock Spider is a distinctively colored orb-weaver found across North America, notable for the prominent white, yellow, or red spots on its abdomen that give it its name.

The Small Purple Fringed Orchid, scientifically named Platanthera psycodes, is a perennial wildflower native to the wet meadows, bogs, and woodlands of eastern North America. Blooming in mid to late summer, it produces a dense spike of vibrant purple or magenta flowers characterized by a deeply frin...

Smooth aster, Symphyotrichum laeve, is a perennial member of the aster family native to much of North America. It is distinguished by relatively smooth, often waxy blue-green stems and leaves, along with flower heads bearing violet or blue-purple rays around yellow central discs. The species blooms...

Foxglove Beardtongue, known scientifically as Penstemon digitalis, is a clump-forming herbaceous perennial native to the eastern and central United States. As a member of the plantain family, Plantaginaceae, it is characterized by its upright stems and opposite, lance-shaped leaves. In late spring a...

Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea) is a perennial wildflower native to eastern North America and found in moist prairies, meadows, open woodlands, and stream margins. A member of the carrot family, it produces flat-topped clusters of small yellow flowers in spring and early summer. Its flowers provide...

Rose gentian, Sabatia angularis, is a biennial wildflower native to eastern and central North America. It bears branching stems with opposite leaves and showy pink, usually five-parted flowers marked by a yellow or greenish star near the center. The species blooms in summer in open woods, meadows, r...

Sweet black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia subtomentosa) is a robust perennial wildflower native to the tallgrass prairies and meadows of the central United States. It is structurally characterized by branching stems that can reach over four feet in height, topped with yellow, daisy-like flowers featuring da...

Nodding Ladies' Tresses (Spiranthes cernua) is a terrestrial orchid native to North America, frequently found in moist meadows, prairies, and wetlands. The plant is distinguished by its dense, vertical spike of small white flowers that spiral around the stem, resembling a twisted braid. Blooming in...

Common goldenrod, Solidago canadensis, is a perennial flowering plant in the aster family, native to much of North America and introduced elsewhere. It produces branching clusters of small yellow flower heads in late summer and autumn, providing nectar and pollen for many insects. Its conspicuous bl...

Kanha Savanna is a sal forest and open meadow ecosystem within Kanha Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, India, which served as one of the inspirations for Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.

Wild senna is a tall perennial legume native to eastern North America, commonly classified as Senna hebecarpa or the closely related Senna marilandica. It produces compound leaves, clusters of yellow summer flowers, and elongated seedpods that darken as they mature. The plant grows in prairies, mead...

Wild Sweet William (*Phlox divaricata*), commonly called woodland phlox, is a semi-evergreen perennial native to the forests of eastern North America. Belonging to the phlox family, Polemoniaceae, it typically grows in rich, moist woodlands and along stream banks. The plant propagates via both seeds...

Showy evening primrose, Oenothera speciosa, is a perennial wildflower native to central and southern North America. It spreads through underground rhizomes and produces broad, four-petaled flowers that are usually pale pink or white with darker veins and yellow centers. The flowers commonly open tow...

Tall goldenrod, Solidago altissima, is a perennial member of the aster family native across much of North America. It forms upright stems topped by branching clusters of numerous small yellow flower heads, providing late-season nectar and pollen for many insects. Goldenrods are often blamed for hay...

The meadow grasshopper, Pseudochorthippus parallelus, is a widespread grasshopper species native to grasslands and meadows across Europe. It is a relatively small species in which females are typically flightless or only weakly capable of flight, while males can fly short distances. Formerly classif...

Ragged robin, Silene flos-cuculi, is a herbaceous perennial native to Europe and parts of western Asia, where it grows in damp meadows, marshes, and stream margins. Its pink flowers have five petals, each divided into four narrow lobes that create a distinctly ragged appearance. Drainage, agricultur...

Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) is a familiar North American wildflower in the Asteraceae family, naturalized across meadows, prairies, and roadsides. It features bright yellow ray florets radiating from a prominent dark-brown central disk, blooming from early summer into fall. The species is dro...

Pasture rose, Rosa carolina, is a low, spreading shrub native to eastern and central North America. It produces fragrant, single pink flowers with five petals in late spring or summer, followed by red rose hips. Unlike roses associated mainly with wet ground, it commonly occupies relatively dry, ope...

Bluets (Houstonia caerulea), also known as Quaker Ladies, are small perennial wildflowers native to eastern North America. Each plant bears tiny four-petaled flowers, typically pale blue to white with a yellow center, on slender stems above a basal rosette of small leaves. They bloom in early to mid...

Robin's Plantain (Erigeron pulchellus) is a herbaceous perennial wildflower in the aster family, Asteraceae, native to eastern North America. It produces daisy-like flower heads with yellow centers and pale violet, lavender, or nearly white rays, typically in spring and early summer. The plant grows...

Sundrops is a common name applied to several yellow-flowered species of Oenothera, especially perennial plants formerly placed in the genus Calylophus or grouped with the evening primroses. Unlike many evening primroses whose flowers open near dusk, sundrops generally display their bright, four-peta...