America's 18 Wildest Wildflowers

The unusual names and fascinating characteristics of these very wild wildflowers should be on your radar.

By: Julie Martens Forney

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Strange Names and Oddball Stories Define American Wildflowers

Wildflowers are nature’s gems, unfurling not only beautiful blooms but also wonderful tales of tenacity and folklore. Some wildflowers, like the perennial purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) shown here, transition easily to a garden setting. Others demand such specific growing conditions that they don’t adapt to a typical home landscape. Look for both types of native plants in this gallery, which showcases wildflowers with intriguing back stories. These plants provide talking points you can use at your next book club, barbecue or family dinner. If nothing else, you’ll grab some new words for your Scrabble arsenal.

What’s inspired our interest in all things wildflower is the recent update — decades in the making — of the National Audubon Society Wildflowers of North America. This beloved guide is the go-to book for nature lovers who want to learn about the plants they encounter while they’re enjoying the Great Outdoors. Let’s go for a walk on the wild side.

Roundleaf Sundew

With its alien looks, this carnivorous wildflower is the stuff of nightmares for insects. Hair-like tendrils on leaves are tipped with sugary, sticky droplets that unsuspecting insects mistake for nectar. Once a mosquito, fly or gnat zips in for a sweet morsel, they’re trapped by the stickiness. The tendrils detect when insects are caught, and the leaf slowly wraps around its prey, engulfing it and digesting it with enzymes. Roundleaf sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) supplements its diet with insects because it grows in the nutrient-poor acidic soil of bogs, moors and heaths. Historically, people used sundew in anti-aging potions and as a love charm because of its power to lure. Hardy in Zones 5 to 9.

Blue Fiesta Flower

This pretty purple bloomer could be called the Velcro wildflower because its stems, leaves and flower bases have backward-pointing bristles that stick to animal fur or fabric. In the era of the Spanish ranchos, women would wear these flowers on their dresses for decoration, which gave rise to the name blue fiesta flower (Pholistoma auritum). This annual plant grows 12 to 24 inches tall and opens lavender to purple blossoms. It’s native to the Desert Southwest and California, growing in a variety of well-drained soil types. Look for it at nurseries that specialize in native plants to learn if it’s adaptable to your garden.

Ghost Pipe

Because ghost pipe (Monotropa uniflora) lacks chlorophyll, it doesn’t need sunshine to grow but thrives in the deepest, darkest forests where it finds nutrition by connecting with underground fungi and tree roots. As tree leaves feed their roots through photosynthesis, they nourish the roots of ghost pipe, too. Also known as Indian pipe, this plant produces one 3- to 9-inch-tall stem topped with a white- or pinkish-white bell-shaped flower. It’s the same flower shape as a blueberry, which is a botanical cousin to ghost pipe. This spooky wildflower turns black if picked, so it’s best enjoyed in its native habitat. If you own a woodlot with oaks or maples, search it for ghost pipe. Hardy in Zones 4 to 9.

Giant Red Paintbrush

At 2 to 3 feet tall, giant red paintbrush (Castilleja miniata) isn’t exactly gigantic, but the flowers do deliver a big splash of color. Also known as Indian paintbrush, this wildflower is most common in pristine natural environments from Alaska to California along the coast and inland to the Rocky Mountains. The root system of paintbrush plugs itself into the root systems of a few specific plants, creating a parasitic dependence upon them and actually drawing nutrients from them. This makes it tough to get giant red paintbrush to establish in a garden setting, but it can be done with a little research and tricky seed sowing techniques. Hardy in Zones 4 to 7.

Skunk Cabbage

Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) is one of the few plants capable of generating heat (thermogenesis is the scientific term). In late winter, its burgundy-purple flower hood melts its way through snow-covered ground. Inside the flower, air is heated 36 to 63 degrees warmer than the ambient temperature, creating a cozy hang-out for early-season pollinators. The flower scent is a cross between a skunk and rotting flesh. Combine the stink with the warmth, and this flower is fly heaven. In their little bug brains, flies think they’ve found a carcass perfect for egg laying, so they come zipping in and end up pollinating the blooms. When the weather warms, bright green leaves appear, growing to 3 feet. The inedible leaves contain calcium oxalic crystals, which cause a burning sensation if eaten. Skunk cabbage thrives in swampy, boggy places, forming colonies when happy. Hardy in Zones 4 to 8.

Sneezeweed

For late summer and fall color, count on sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale) with its yellow, daisy-like blooms. This perennial wildflower is highly adaptable, growing in full to part sun in wet to medium-wet soil. In the wild, you’ll usually find sneezeweed growing near water. It’s a great plant to add to a wildlife garden, cottage garden or perennial border for fall color. Pollinators mob this autumn bloomer, while deer tend to avoid the bitter leaves. Despite the name, this native plant doesn’t cause hayfever or fall allergies. Instead, the name sneezeweed comes from the practice of drying the leaves for use in snuff, which people inhaled to induce sneezing and expel evil spirits. Hardy in Zones 3 to 9.

Dragon’s Mouth

For exotic elegance in the wild, it’s tough to beat terrestrial orchids, and dragon’s mouth orchid (Arethusa bulbosa) is no exception. It’s tiny, growing only 6 to 10 inches high, but the blossoms stage a striking show complete with rich perfume. You don’t need an over-active imagination to see how those maw-like blooms influenced the name. Flowers appear from late spring to late summer, followed by a single grass-like leaf. This orchid thrives along a pond’s edge or bog with acidic, wet soil. Hardy in Zones 3 to 7.

Mountain Death Camas

Grassy meadows along stream banks are where you’ll find this killer beauty, which is a member of the lily family and grows from a bulb. Known as mountain death camas (Zigadena elegans) or elegant death camas, all parts of the plant contain poisonous compounds more potent than strychnine that can kill livestock and people. Many settlers lost their lives mistaking this bulb for wild onion or edible camas, which it often grows alongside. To prevent accidental poisoning, Native Americans would dig death camas from patches of edible camas when the plants were flowering, since that’s when you can tell the plants apart. Formerly classified as Anticlea elegans. Hardy in Zones 2 to 9.

Yellow Pitcher Plant

The yellow pitcher plant (Sarracenia flava) is a tall Southern type with green pitcher-shaped leaves that often show red veins. This carnivorous plant typically grows in wet, boggy soil. Glands along the pitcher edges and throat produce nectar that attracts insects, while hairs on the inside of the pitcher direct the hapless insects toward a pool of liquid in the bottom. The liquid contains insect-digesting enzymes that turn bugs into nutrients the plant can absorb. Pitcher plants are easy to grow in a bog garden or containers filled with half peat, half perlite or vermiculite. Some pitcher plants are endangered or threatened, so be sure to source plants through nurseries that don’t collect them in the wild. Hardy in Zones 6 to 10.

Red Trillium

One of spring’s early bloomers, red trillium (Trillium erecta) unfurls three wine-red petals above a whorl of three diamond shape leaves. It typically grows in deciduous forests where a layer of fall leaf litter helps nourish and protect plants. In the home garden, give trillium a spot where it receives ample sunlight early in the growing season. Avoid north-facing beds or shady areas where soil doesn’t warm in early spring. Trillium boasts a host of aliases: wake robin, because it opens when migrating robins return in spring, or stinking benjamin, which has to do with the fact that those dainty blooms smell like rotting flesh. Really. This trillium has no nectar to attract bees for pollinating, so it uses the odor of decay to lure green flesh-flies, which are duped into thinking they’ve found a carcass on which to lay eggs. Instead they pollinate the flowers. Hardy in Zones 3 to 7.

Water Spider Orchid

If you suffer from arachnophobia, the flower spikes of water spider orchid (Habenaria repens) might push you over the edge. The six to 20 blooms that blanket the flower spike resemble small green spiders. Those spidery blossoms release a strong fragrance in the evening. Plants grow 8 to 16 inches tall and flower late summer through fall. In the wild, water spider orchid thrives in bogs, marshes or moist meadows. You can raise it at home in a bog garden or container. Look for plants for sale online labeled as “not collected from the wild.” Hardy in Zones 7-11.

Lizard’s Tail

This perennial wildflower is a common sight in marshes or along stream banks. Lizard’s tail (Saururus cernuus) opens white flower spikes that arch and curve. The dainty blooms release a citrusy scent. Flowers fade to form fruits that resemble a wrinkled lizard’s tail. In a home landscape, tuck this reptilian namesake along the edge of a pond or water garden, anywhere conditions are boggy, soggy and partly shady. Hardy in Zones 4 to 11.

Elephant’s Head

It’s easy to see where this wildflower gets its name. The flower spikes on elephant’s head (Pedicularis groenlandica) look like stacks of small elephant heads, with each individual bloom boasting large flapping ears and a trunk. It’s a wetland plant, requiring the consistent moisture of a bog, moist meadow or moist riverbank to flourish. Typically the blossoms are pink to purple shades; white flowers are rare. This alpine or subalpine plant grows in mountain environments from New Mexico to Alaska and throughout most of Canada, except in Newfoundland or Nova Scotia. Hardy in Zones 4 to 6.

Black Swallow-Wort

With names like swallow-wort and dog-strangling vine , it’s easy to guess that this plant grows aggressively. In fact, it readily entwines itself in nearby plants to the point of smothering or strangling them. Its growth is so thick that it renders electric fences ineffective. Black swallow-wort (Cynanchum louiseae) is not a true native wildflower. It actually hails from Europe and was introduced to US gardens as an ornamental plant. It escaped cultivation in the mid-1860s near Boston and has made its way from coast to coast. It grows in full sun or deep shade in a variety of soil types.

Crimson-Eyed Rose Mallow

A native perennial hibiscus, crimson-eyed rose mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos) steals the spotlight with its large blooms that open 6 to 8 inches across. The plant typically grows 4 feet tall but with ample moisture can soar to 7 feet. This wildflower transitions readily to the home garden, thriving in full sun in wet to average moisture soils. It grows well along a pond or in a boggy area of a water garden. Many of the popular perennial hibiscus sold today contain the genetics of this native plant. Hardy in Zones 5 to 10.

Firewheel Blanketflower

Firewheel blanketflower (Gaillardia pulchella) is a hardy, drought-tolerant annual that’s native to full sun, well-drained soils of the Central US region. Plants grow 18 to 24 inches tall and flower from spring through early fall. The blossoms are favorites among butterflies, pollinators and hummingbirds. It’s easy to establish drifts of blanketflower from seed, and they make a terrific plant choice for coastal, beach-front landscapes or sand dune reclamation sites.

Golden Smoke

The sunny yellow blooms of golden smoke (Corydalis aurea) open from late winter to fall, beckoning pollinators and butterflies. The plant is also known as scrambled eggs, thanks to those sunny yellow blossoms. It’s a pioneer plant, which means it colonizes disturbed soil. This wildflower is spread by ants, which gather the seeds for the fleshy berry-like structure on them. The ants carry the seeds down into their nests, feeding the fleshy part to their larvae. The inedible seeds stay untouched, safely hidden below ground, waiting for a soil disturbance that allows them to germinate. This native bloomer transitions easily to the home garden. Annual or biennial.

Fire-On-The-Mountain

Other common names for fire-on-the-mountain (Euphorbia cyathophora) are aptly descriptive: painted leaf and wild poinsettia. It typically grows in dry, open areas in the North, where it tends to be less than 2 feet tall. In the South, it’s almost a weed, thriving and spreading in shady, moist sites where it grows up to 3 feet tall. Just like its lookalike holiday cousin, poinsettia, fire-on-the-mountain contains a milky sap that makes it deer and rabbit resistant. Flowers usually appear from midsummer through fall. Hardy in Zones 4 to 10.