Can you help me identify these flowers? I took the pictures in mid-August 2019 while paddling through Knife to Ester Lakes.

Flower #1: This was growing on a south-facing open slope.






Flower #2: This tiny flower was atop a grass stem that was growing underwater at the beach on Ester Lake.







Flower #3: These white-pink flowers were growing at the edge of the beach on Ester Lake.






Flower #4: These clustered white flowers were growing in the open.







Flower #5: These white flowers also were growing in the open.







Flower #6: These pink flowers were growing in the open.







Flower #7: These magenta flowers were growing in the forest at the edge of a small open area. The entire plant was less than 12 inches high.

Ray Tallent where are you?

I think #1 is harebell.
#2 Pipewort
#5 Aster, maybe large toothed.
#7 Rattle snake root or coral root.

#3 looks like Purple-leaf Willow Herb: Info here...

...and #5 appears to be Red Osier Dogwood

...and #6 appears to be Common Self-heal , or Prunella Vulgaris.
TZ

#1 Campanula rotundifolia (Harebell)
#2 Eriocaulon aquaticum (Common Pipewort)
#3 Chamaenerion (or Epilobium) parviflorum (Willowherb) kudos to Trail Zen
#4 Cornus sericea (Red-osier Dogwood)
#5 Symphyotrichum ericoides (Heath Aster)
#6 Mentha arvensis (Wild Mint)
#7 Heuchera richardsonii (Prairie Alumroot) kudos to ennui

7. The fruiting stage of a coralroot orchid, Corallorhiza genus. Likely spotted coralroot, Corallorhiza maculata.

That pipewort is cool. Anybody care to identify that damselfly in the second pipework photo?

sedges: "


That pipewort is cool. Anybody care to identify that damselfly in the second pipework photo?"

Bluette, or blue damselfly. They are my favorites--very tiny and very blue.
Enallagma cyathigerum.

There are more Dragonfly species in Minnesota than I imagined. iNaturalist site.

inspector13: "
There are more Dragonfly species in Minnesota than I imagined. iNaturalist site.

"

That's a very good site. Dragonflies and damselflies are my favorites. Some people go to the canoe country to fish. . .I always went to see the tiny creatures and the flora, too.

This is a good thread for someone like me. :-)

Spartan2: "

sedges: "

That pipewort is cool. Anybody care to identify that damselfly in the second pipework photo?"

Bluette, or blue damselfly. They are my favorites--very tiny and very blue.
Enallagma cyathigerum. "

This insect ID site provides a picture that identifies the insect as a Familiar Bluet Damselfly.

This MN wildflower site helped me to narrow the aster ID to a Panicled Aster. I looked at the shape of the plant, the leaves, and the number of petals on the flower.

Thank you, everyone for your continuing help!

Can someone explain what is going on in the center of the Harebell? The MN wildflower site I mentioned says, "A long style protrudes from the center, its tip splits into 3 parts." That isn't what is in my picture. Is it a matter of maturity or something else?

Why is the flower stalk of the Willowherb reddish? The pictures I find online all have green stalks (hope that is the correct term).

sedges: "7. The fruiting stage of a coralroot orchid, Corallorhiza genus. Likely spotted coralroot, Corallorhiza maculata."

After more digging, it looks like a Western Spotted Coralroot in the fruiting stage. Thanks!

Ausable: "Can someone explain what is going on in the center of the Harebell? The MN wildflower site I mentioned says, "A long style protrudes from the center, its tip splits into 3 parts." That isn't what is in my picture. Is it a matter of maturity or something else?

Why is the flower stalk of the Willowherb reddish? The pictures I find online all have green stalks (hope that is the correct term)."

It is likely that the tip of the harebell style (that is, the pollen-receptive part, or stigma) has not opened yet. So, you are right, it is a matter of maturity. When it opens, there will be a three-part stigma. Many flowers open their pollen sacs (anthers) first, and only then open the stigmas to become receptive to pollen. In this way, self-pollination is reduced.
On the willowherb, the elongate seed pods (situated below the petals) are turning red as they mature. I think that is normal. Eventually, the petals fall off and those pods split open to release numerous hairy (?) seeds.

Ausable: "Why is the flower stalk of the Willowherb reddish? The pictures I find online all have green stalks (hope that is the correct term)."

There are slight variations within all species. The Willowherb growing around the pond my parents owned had "blushing" receptacles.

Let me add one more picture for #6. I looked at Wild Mint and Self Heal, but the Wild Mint flower lacks the hairs and serrated edge of the flowers in the picture. The leaves of the Self Heal are smooth rather than the toothed leaves in my picture. Here is the additional picture. Is it possible that the plant I saw is Brittlestem Hemp-nettle ?

I hope not. I got that weed growing in my perennial shade garden at home. The overall shape of the plant looks different, just like in pics 2, 4, 5, and 6 on Katy’s website. The flower close ups look very similar however.

That id looks pretty good to me: Galeopsis tetrahit. Was it at a campsite or portage landing? The introduced stuff usually turns up in disturbed ground at those places.

rtallent: "That id looks pretty good to me: Galeopsis tetrahit. Was it at a campsite or portage landing? The introduced stuff usually turns up in disturbed ground at those places."

It was in the open at the eastern campsite on Robbins Island (Knife Lake). I wish I had a wider view of the plants so that I had a better comparison with the pictures on minnestoawildflowers.info (Katy's website).

By the way, before this discussion gets any longer, I want to express my appreciation for everyone's input. Being a hard science and engineering guy all my life, I have no expertise in botany!

Ausable: "...Being a hard science and engineering guy all my life..."

I would bet that botanyguy and rtallent might not agree with that term. : )

Well sure, any of the biological sciences are considered "hard science". Use of serious scientific method in peer-reviewed, objective research happens in the biological sciences. The difference that gets folks confused is that botany(and ornithology) have a pretty big amateur following and chemistry, physics and engineering does not.

Most amateur contributions to botany are observational and not seriously statistical. Sharing botanical and biogeographic knowledge with interested, curious folks is fun. One role amateur botanists play is finding extensions of geographic range of species. They also occasionally discover new species.

My apologies for inadvertently insulting people. I've always used "hard" to refer to those sciences that deal with non-biological materials. I can see now that I was incorrect.

No insult detected!

Another way amateurs are invaluable is in their sheer numbers... They can contribute to surveys (winter bird counts and migratory bird observations, secchi readings and nutrient sampling on lakes, plant distributions, etc.) in ways not feasible for a limited number of academics...

I’ve identified them they are flowers .