Reprinted from the Wildflower Newsletter (Wildflower Newsletter)
(Edmonton Naturalization Group's Newsletter on gardening with wildflowers)
With kind permission from Cherry Dodd

WHAT IS A WILDFLOWER?

You would think that this would be a simple question but it's not.
I once had a heated argument with a man who insisted that Burdock was a wildflower.
"But it's introduced from Europe" I spluttered. "It can't be a wildflower"
"It is a wildflower" he repeated calmly.
"It's a weed!" I retorted.
"It's a wildflower, look it up in the dictionary."  This was his parting shot.

So I looked it up, and infuriatingly, he was right. The dictionary definition of a wildflower is "any flowering plant that grows in the wild." Under this definition all my garden weeds are wildflowers. I have seen them all growing in the wild at one time or another. Under this definition escaped agricultural crops, such as Sweet Clover, Alfalfa and Red Clover are also wildflowers. Garden plants, such as Purple Loosestrife that have jumped the fence and invaded natural wetlands are also wildflowers.

This is a sad state of affairs.  Albertan wildflowers are unfairly lumped in with invasive weeds and other European immigrants under one umbrella definition.

Fortunately there is a simple solution.
All plants that grow here can be divided into two categories. They can be native to Alberta, meaning they originated here; or they can be non-native, meaning that they originated in some other country or region. Using the terms "native" and "non-native" is an easy way to distinguish between the immigrants and the genuine Albertan wildflowers.

To get you started on figuring out which plants are native and which are non-native, here is a list of some of the non-native wildflowers that you might see in Edmonton, and their origins.

Annual Hawk's-Beard.  Crepis tectorum. A weed that hitched a ride from
Europe in sacks of grain.

Bindweed.  Convolvulus arvensis.  The same.

Burdock.  Arctium tomentosum. Originally imported from Europe as a medicinal and edible plant, it escaped  into the wild.

Canada Thistle, Creeping Thistle.  Cirsium arvense. An invasive weed. It originally came from England as a contaminant in grain.

Dandelion.  Taraxacum officinale. Originally imported from England as a medicinal herb and food crop. Now a common weed.

Goat's Beard. Tragopogon dubius. A weed that hitched a ride from Europe.

Leafy Spurge. Euphorbia esula. An invasive weed, originally imported from Europe as a garden plant.

Meadow Buttercup.  Ranunculus acris. A meadow plant that spread from Europe. It is now a problem weed in the Rockies. The seeds are spread by horses.

Oxeye Daisy.  Chrysanthemum leucanthemum. Imported as a garden plant from Europe. Now it is a troublesome weed in the Rockies.

Scentless Chamomile.  Matricaria maritima. An invasive weed from Europe that is still expanding its range.

Sow-thistle. Sonchus arvensis. An agricultural weed from Europe.

Tansy.  Tanacetum vulgare.  Originally imported from Europe as a medicinal and food plant, Tansy is an aggressive spreader that has naturalized everywhere.

Tumbleweed Mustard.  Sisymbrium altissimum. An agricultural weed that hitched a ride from Europe.

Wild Mustard.  Sinapis arvensis. The same.

Wild Snapdragon.  Linaria vulgaris.  A naive of Asia that was introduced into Europe as a garden plant and then imported into Canada. A very aggressive and invasive weed.

White Cockle.  Lychnis alba. An agricultural weed that hitched a ride from Europe.