North Shore Wildflowers

Nothing reflects the North Shore’s many diverse microhabitats better than the little flowers found along the shoreline.

A Selection of North Shore wildflowers

Butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris)

Laurie Campbell

Butterwort is found along the rocky shores of Lake Superior. It is insectivorous - it eats insects! The leaves are sticky, trapping insects that walk across them. Then the butterwort exudes an acid that digests the insect. The nutrients the plant gets from the insect help them survive in the harsh rocky environment they live in. Butterwort is listed as a species of concern in Minnesota. They are found in only a few scattered places along the North Shore.

Some of the most interesting and unique North Shore wildflowers are the ones growing out on the rocky ledgerock shorelines. Being so close to Lake Superior’s cold waters gives these wildflowers a microhabitat that is cooler and foggier than anywhere else in Minnesota.

Ecologists suggest that at the end of the last ice age, the climate was perfect for these plants. As the climate warmed and the glaciers retreated, the arctic plants followed behind. But the cool, moist shoreline of Lake Superior provided a refuge where the flowers could still thrive.

Bloom calendar

May

Wood Anemone
Pussy Toes
Canada Violet
Canada Mayflower
Star Flower
Bunchberry
Downy Yellow Violet
Marsh Marigold
Common Blue Violet
Spring Beauty

June

Strawberry, Common & Wood
Wild Sarsaparilla
Baneberry, White & Red
Nodding Trillium
Clintonia (Bluebead Lily)
Yellow Lady's-Slipper
Winter Cress
Bird's-eye Primrose
Wild Columbine
Rose Twisted Stalk
Twin Flower
Blue Flag (Wild Iris)
Butterwort
Tall Lungwort (Bluebells)
Lupine
Jack-in-the-Pulpit

July

False Rue Anemone
Tall Meadow Rue
Canada Anemone
Three-toothed Cinquefoil
Cow Parsnip
One-sided Pyrola (Shinleaf)
Shinleaf (Waxflower)
Agrimony
Showy Lady's-Slipper
Harebell
Brook's Lobelia
Indian-pipe

August

Turtlehead
Black-eyed Susan
Fireweed
Goldenrod, various species
Jewelweed
Large Leaf Aster