by admin | May 29, 2018 | Wild flowers
This was a new species for me – but it is not rare around here. I first saw on with two white, spherical flower buds held on short arched branches from the top of a vertical stem. It looked just like a miniature model of an old-fashioned gas street lamp! Since,...
by admin | May 13, 2018 | Wild flowers
This dwarf crested iris (Iris Cristata) is in a patch of plants growing on the western edge of the steam just outside the quarry fencing (alongside the trail shown as dotted on our trail map) . I have found two patches of irises along this stream bank. The flowers are...
by admin | May 12, 2018 | Wild flowers
One of the first flowers of Spring in the park was Canadian bloodroot (Sanguinaria Canadensis). A patch of it is by the old amphitheater where three paths come together. The name comes from the fact that the underground rhizome is blood red and gives up a red sap....
by admin | May 12, 2018 | Wild flowers
Creeping buttercup (ranunculus repens) is very common, but very pretty. It spreads rapidly using horizontal stems (stolons) such that a single plant can grow into a five foot square patch in a single year – choking out other plants as it spreads. Like most...
by admin | Apr 15, 2018 | Plants, Wild flowers
Now this is a weird one. You are not looking at a flower. Rather it is a nest or a house! A tiny wasp laid its eggs in a twig of a white oak tree. Chemicals which were injected with the eggs caused the oak tree to grow everything you see in the fluffy sphere. So, what...
by admin | Apr 10, 2018 | Wild flowers
This beautiful flower hides itself. From the top you only see three pointed, green leaves. The flower is on a short stem which curves over so that the flower hangs underneath the leaves. Hence the name nodding trillium (Trillium Cernuum). Short-lived excitement In...
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