Yellow Flowers of Little River Canyon National Preserve

Yellow False Foxglove produces a yellow funnel-shaped flower that appears during August and September. The plant is usually found in dry upland woodlands. Yellow False Foxglove is partially parasitic on the roots of oak trees.

Midwestern Tickseed Sunflower produces a yellow flower that appears between August and October. The plant is usually found growing in shaded moist areas. This sunflower has evolved a creative and effective means of seed distribution. The fruits are bristly and barbed, and adhere to clothing, fur and feathers, which it is then carried into new and far ranging habitats.

Rayless Goldenrod produces a yellow flower that appears during September and October. This goldenrod is a conspicuous component of the sandstone outcrop rare community type. It covers much of the rock outcrop community during fall when some moisture is available in this desert-like community.

Common Partridge Pea produces a yellow flower that appears from June to September. The plant can be found in a variety of habitats, including meadows, roadsides and waste places. The leaves of Common Partridge Pea are light sensitive and fold up at night.

Grassleaf Golden Aster produces a yellow flower from June to October. The plant is found in a variety of dry areas. The very soft and silky grass-like leaves are a characteristic feature of this plant.

Maryland Golden Aster produces a yellow flower that appears from June to October. This widely distributed plant is found in a variety of dry habitats, including old fields, open woods, barrens and other dry soils.

Lobed Tickseed produces a yellow flower from April to June. The plant is most often found in open woodlands. An orange to reddish dye is manufactured from Lobe Tickseed's flowers and stem.

Whorled Coreopsis produces yellow flowers from June to August. The plant is widespread across dry open forestland. Early pioneers stuffed their mattresses with Coreopsis seeds to repel bedbugs and fleas.

Lookout Mountain Coreopsis is an imperiled endemic plant only found in northeast Alabama. The plant produces yellow flowers that appear from June to September. This plant is restricted to sandstone outcrops on the Preserve, which is considered a rare community type. The thin thread-like leaves aide the plant in conserving water and surviving in this extreme desert-like environment

Southern Bush Honeysuckle produces yellow tubular flowers that appear from June to August. This small shrub can be found along bluffs, woodlands borders and roadsides. Southern Bush Honeysuckle reaches its' southern range distribution in the area surrounding the Preserve

Carolina Jessamine produces yellow funnel-shaped flowers that appear from March to May. This high climbing vine is often found in thickets and woodlands. All parts of this vine contain alkaloids and are considered extremely poisonous. Simple contact with the skin can cause dermatitis.

Bitterweed produces a yellow flower that appears from May to December. The weed is often found growing in overgrazed pastures and along roadsides. Because cows milk from animals eating this plant has a bitter taste, it was given the name bitterweed. Native American used this plant in their religious ceremonies. They used the powdered heads as a snuff to induce violent sneezing to affect the release of evil spirits from the body.

Longleaf Sunflower produces yellow flowers that appear from August to October. This sunflower is restricted to the borders of sandstone and granite outcrops throughout its' range in northeast Alabama and Georgia. On the Preserve, it is found within and along the edge of the sandstone outcrop rare community type. The Nature Conservancy considers this sunflower critically imperiled in Alabama.

Hairy Sunflower produces yellow flowers that appear from July to October. It is usually found growing in dry woodlands and open areas, especially barrens. Sunflowers characteristically face the sun. Because the side of the stem in the shade grows faster, it causes the sunflower head to turn directly into the sun.

Small-headed Sunflower produces yellow flowers that appear from July to October. This sunflower is commonly found along roadsides and woodlands across most of the Eastern United States. Sunflower seeds high in proteins and minerals are one of the primary bird foods grown and sold across the country.

Common Stargrass produces yellow flowers that appear from June to March. It is usually found in dry open woodlands, meadows and lawns.

Tulip Tree produces yellow flowers in the upper canopy from April to June. This tree is found on moist well-drained sites, especially along streams, bottoms, lower upland slopes and rich cove forests. Tulip Tree is one of the primary species of the old growth cove forests of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. It can grow 190 feet tall, 10 feet in diameter and reach 500 years in age.

Hoary Puccoon produces orange to golden yellow flowers during April and May. It is usually found growing in rocky open areas. Native Americans derived a yellow dye from this plant. Hoary Puccoon roots have also be used to treat swelling and aches, particularly to the joints.

Whorled Loosestrife produces yellow flowers that appear from May to August. This plant can be found on both dry and moist soils, particularly in open woodlands. Early colonists fed loosestrife to their oxen to make them work together peacefully

Southern Sundrops produces yellow flowers that appear from April to August. They can be found on both wet and dry soils, particularly rocky places and open woodlands. Sundrops is the only primrose that opens during the day and closes at night and on cloudy days. Other primroses are pollinated by moths and open at night and close early in the day.

Southern Yellow Wood Sorrel produces yellow flowers that appear from February to May. This plant is considered a cosmopolitan weed and is found throughout the region. Wood sorrel is rich in vitamin C, and has been a popular addition to salads and as a treatment for scurvy. More recently, high levels of oxalic acid in wood sorrel have been found to inhibit calcium absorption and result in harmful medical problems.

Dwarf Milkwort produces yellow flowers that appear from March to October. The plants are frequently found in open sandy areas and pine barrens. Milkwort has the reputation of increasing the secretion of milk in nursing mothers and livestock.

Bearfoot produces yellow flowers that appear from July to October. The plant is usually encountered in woodlands, meadows and barrens.

Orange Coneflower produces yellow flowers that appear from July to October. The plant is often found in moist woodlands and on open lands. Native Americans used the roots of coneflower for treating worms, snakebite and indigestion.

Thinleaf Coneflower produces yellow flowers that appear from June to October. It is often found in thickets and edges of deep woods.

Green Pitcher Plant produces a yellow flower that appears in April and May. This pitcher plant is federally listed as an endangered species. They grow in seepy meadows, poorly drained oak-pine flatwoods, and sandy banks of streams. This carnivorous plant has leaves that have evolved into a funnel or pitcher shape in order to trap insects. The plant attracts insect prey with secretions of extrafloral nectaries, leaf color and scent. Insects fall into the pitcher tube and are digested by the plant.

Yellow Sunnybell produces yellow flowers that appear from March to May. They are usually found growing on sandy soils and swampy ground. On the Preserve, Yellow Sunnybell is restricted to the sandstone outcrop rare plant community type. During early spring when water is abundant on the outcrops, this plant forms a sheet of yellow color across the rocky surface

Appalachian Ragwort produces yellow flowers that appear in May and June. The plant is usually found growing in uplands, meadows, pastures, roadsides and dry open woodlands. Native Americans used this plant to treat heart trouble and prevent pregnancy. The plant also contains toxins and cancer-causing compounds harmful to humans.

Lesser Prairie Dock produces yellow flowers that appear from May to September. The plants are usually found growing in dry sandy openings and piney woodlands. Siphium is rather unique in that only the ray flowers produce seeds.

Erect Goldenrod produces yellow flowers from August to October. It is often found growing in dry woodlands. Although goldenrods are believed by some to cause hay fever, very little goldenrod pollen is carried by the wind.

Common Mullein produces yellow flowers from June to September. This non-native densely woolly plant can be found along roadsides and disturbed areas. Smoking the leaves is considered a folk remedy for treating coughs and asthma. In the past, the stout stalks dipped in tallow were used for extended candlelight.

Southern Crownbeard produces yellow flowers during August and September. The plant is commonly encountered in moist woodlands, thickets and waste areas. These plants have the strong disagreeable odor of rotting meat or a skunk. Historically, crownbeard was used as salves and ointments applied to the skin.

Spearleaf Violet produces yellow flowers from March to May. The plant is most commonly found in moist woodlands. Compounds in violets can destroy skin tissue and have been used as a skin cancer treatment.

Yellow-eyed Grass produces yellow flowers that appear from August to October. This plant is most commonly found in low, wet, sandy soils in the region. On the Preserve, Yellow-eyed Grass grows in the sandstone outcrop rare community type.