Ironweed

This is Ironweed, one of many native and non-native flower species in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. With 1100 species, the Indiana Dunes have more species of plant than any other unit in the National Park System after the Smokies and the Grand Canyon. That means it will take me a few years to learn them all. These flowers were fairly common on the lee side of dunes, but away from the ponds and bogs, in the Cowles Bog area in September 2007.