The lime green, sticky pistils of female box elder flowers (Acer negundo) appear along with the tree’s leaves, but a few days after the male flowers have fully opened, I’ve noticed. Box elders have male flowers on one tree and female flowers on another, unlike red maples which can have both on one tree. Several Native American tribes made sugar from this tree’s sap and the earliest known example of a Native American flute, dating from 620-670 AD, was made from its wood.
One day I went walking near mown areas looking for bluets (Houstonia caerulea) but found none. Two days later they were everywhere. I always look for the darkest shade of blue for a photo but the flowers can be almost white to dark blue, and I’ve read that they open white and darken to various shades of blue as they age. No matter what shade of blue they are, they always have a yellow center. They are tiny things; each flower isn’t much bigger than a pea. Another name for the plant is “Quaker ladies” but nobody seems to know exactly why. Other names include innocence, blue-eyed babies, Venus’ pride, Quaker bonnets, and bright eyes. They’re cheery little things and I’m always happy to see them.
I can just imagine the conversation that must have gone on:
Her: Sweetie, there’s a strange man lying on the sidewalk out front, taking pictures of our stone wall.
Him: He’s not taking pictures of the wall; he’s taking pictures of the dandelion growing in it.
Her: But why would he be doing that?
Him: How should I know? He’s obviously some kind of a nut. Just ignore him and maybe he’ll go away.
Sure, we’ve all seen dandelions, but have we ever stopped to really look at one?
We finally had a day sunny enough to coax the bloodroot blossoms (Sanguinaria canadensis) into opening fully, but by the time I remembered to visit them it had clouded over enough to make them want to close up again. I got there in time to see them start wrapping their leaves around themselves, preparing to close.
But one flower remained fully opened and the lighting was perfect to show the veining in its petals. I’ve learned by trial and error that too much sunlight or the use of a flash will make such subtle details disappear, and you’ll be left with flat white petals. That might not seem like a big deal but if someone who wants to publish a wildflower guide looks at your photo it will be a big deal to them and your photo won’t be chosen.
The magnolias have been stunning this year and I wish I could offer up their fragrance as well as a photo. For a very short time each spring magnolia and lilac fragrances overlap and I always think that, if heaven has a fragrance, it will come from the blending of those two flowers.
I like a challenge and there isn’t much that’s more challenging to a nature photographer than a red flower. They are very hard to get a good photo of for reasons I don’t fully understand, so I was surprised when I saw that this one of a red tulip came out good enough to show here. I won’t bother to tell you how many weren’t good enough.
Willows (Salix) are done flowering for the most part, but you can still find a bloom or two if you’re willing to search a bit. Willows are one of those early spring flowers that don’t get a lot of fanfare but I love the promise of spring that they show.
The inner bark and leaves of some willows contain salicylic acid, which is the active ingredient in aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid). Native Americans chewed or made tea from the willow’s leaves and inner bark to relieve fever or toothaches, headaches, or arthritis, and that is why the willow is often called “toothache tree.” It was a very important medicine that no healer would have been without.
Almost immediately after I told Sara in my last flower post that Pennsylvania sedge was the only sedge that bloomed before the leaves came out on the trees I stumbled upon this clump of plantain leaved sedge (Carex plantaginea), growing in an old stone wall. “When will I ever learn?” was the question I asked myself. There is no such thing as always or never when it comes to nature and every time I use one of those words on this blog nature almost immediately shows me how wrong I am. In this case I was happy to be proven wrong though, because I’ve never seen this beautiful sedge.
The prominent midrib, two lateral veins, maroon bases, and puckered look of the leaves are all used as identifying features for plantain leaved sedge. The leaves can be up to a foot long and an inch wide and I can’t think of another sedge that has leaves that look quite like these. The flowers stalks (culms) were about 4 inches tall and had wispy, white female (pistillate) flowers below the terminal male (staminate) flowers. Sedge flowers are actually called spikelets and the stems that bear them are triangular, hence the old saying “sedges have edges.” I can’t speak for the rarity of this plant but this is the only one I’ve ever seen and it isn’t listed in the book Grasses: An Identification Guide, by Lauren Brown. I’ve read that it likes cool shady places where the humidity is relatively high. There is a stream just a few feet from where this one grows.
Vinca (Vinca minor) is one of those invasive plants from Europe that have been here long enough to have erased any memories of them having once crossed the Atlantic on the deck of a wooden ship. Vinca was a plant that was given by one neighbor to another along with lilacs and peonies, and I’ve seen all three blooming beautifully near old cellar holes off in the middle of nowhere. But the word vinca means “to bind” in Latin, and that’s what the wiry stems do. They grow thickly together and form an impenetrable mat that other plants can’t grow through, and I know of large areas with nothing but vinca growing in them. But all in all it is nowhere near as aggressive as Oriental bittersweet or winged euonymus, so we enjoy it’s beautiful violet purple flowers and coexist.
The trout lilies (Erythronium americanum) have just opened and seeing a forest floor carpeted with them is something you don’t soon forget. I’ve read that some large colonies can be as much as 300 years old. Each plant grows from a single bulb and can take 7-10 years to produce a flower, so if you see a large colony of flowering plants you know it has been there for a while. Young plants have a single leaf and then grow a second when they are ready to bloom, so you see many more leaves than flowers.
Trout lilies are in the lily family and it’s easy to see why; they look just like a miniature Canada lily. The six stamens in the blossom start out bright yellow but quickly turn brown and start shedding pollen. Three erect stigmata will catch any pollen that visiting insects might bring. Nectar is produced at the base of the petals and sepals (tepals) as it is in all members of the lily family, and attracts several kinds of bees. The plant will produce a light green, oval, three part seed capsule 6-8 weeks after blooming if pollination has been successful. The seeds of trout lilies are dispersed by ants which eat their rich, fatty appendages and leave the seeds to grow into bulbs.
Trout lily flowers have three petals and three sepals. All are yellow on the inside but the sepals on many flowers are a brown-bronze color on the outside. No matter how you look at it it’s a beautiful little thing, but I think it’s even more so from the back side.
This is a little hint of what will come in the next flower post.
We do not want merely to see beauty… we want something else which can hardly be put into words- to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it. ~C.S. Lewis
Thanks for stopping in.
Such beautiful flowers but I’m glad you included the dandelion, I’ve always loved them, they have such a rich colour. Now they provide me a great background for bee pictures too. Amelia
Thank you Amelia. I’ve always liked dandelions too. They were one of the first plants I ever really worked with.
Although I’d rather not have them in my garden I do like the cheery da deli on flowers and they make a pretty photo. Like you I often wonder what people make of me when I stoop to take a picture of, what must be in their mind, a weed. Each to their own I suppose. My lilac had just burst I to flower so I’m guessing yours is not too far behind.
I’ve always liked dandelions and I don’t worry about a few on the lawn.
People do stare a bit sometimes but I like to think that it encourages them to do the same thing they see me doing.
I have a feeling our lilacs will open this week. New Hampshire had the highest temperature in the entire country yesterday at 86 degrees and flowers are opening quickly now.
Dandelions do deserve a mention now and then and yours is lovely. I posted a picture of one the other day too – the fields around here are glowing with them. Trout lilies are beautiful. I am very fond of all erythroniums and would like to have them in my garden eventually.
Thank you Clare.
We have blue, white and yellow erythroniums in the U.S. but all I’ve ever seen are the yellow ones in this area. I agree, they are all beautiful.
It’s too bad that dandelions have become something to hate or ignore. There was a time when people would pull out grass so the dandelions would have more room!
That surprises me! I like them very much but I’d prefer it if they weren’t in my garden.
Yes, I’ve read that in the old cottage gardens, since dandelions were food, grass was the weed. My grandmother used to have me pick the young leaves and then she’d cook them. I used to eat them all the time when I was young. They tasted a lot like spinach, if I remember correctly. I also used to roast and grind the roots and make a passable coffee substitute from them.
I know what you mean about having them where you don’t want them though. They’re hard to beat.
Yes, I’m never going to get rid of them! I’ve never eaten dandelion and I really ought to give it a go.
That would be one way to get rid of them!
Be sure to use the youngest leaves because they get bitter as they age. You can “make” new leaves by cutting off the older ones and letting them grow new ones, and if you do that enough times they might just die.
Like lettuce!
Yes!
It looks like you go from winter into spring quicker than we do. So many colors!
Yes, sometimes it’s like somebody flipped a switch. It can happen very fast, and so can the transition from spring into summer.
Beautiful photographs and in informative post, as usual. I had no idea that box elder sap could be used to make sugar or that there was a connection between willow and aspirin. Love the Houstonia and Sanguineria – so pure and delicate.
Thank you. I think you’d need a lot more sap from a box elder than you would a sugar maple to make sugar.
Yes, some willows have enough acetylsalicylic acid in them to make just chewing a twig dangerous to people who can’t take aspirin.
I didn’t realize that there were male and female Box Elders. The huge one that shades our house must then be a male because I’ve never before seen that female flower.
Yes, if you had a female you’d know by the seeds. They’re very prolific!
Wonderful series, Allen….and I have looked as closely at the Dandelion……beautiful image.
Thanks Scott!
Most welcome. 🙂
As a matter of fact, I did stop to look at the dandelions today, and even shot a few photos, but none as stunning as yours! Your narrative between two onlookers was funny too, my thoughts as I laid on the ground shooting photos of dandelions was much the same, people will think I’m nuts.
I didn’t know that there were female and male box elders, I must have been shooting the females, as mine look nothing like yours.
It’s such a great time of the year to be outside, with new flowers and plants appearing daily, and you’re capturing that so well in your last few posts!
Thanks! I know that you stop to look at the dandelions Jerry, but you’re a nature nut like me so of course you would. It’s the average Joe that we need to get interested.
Yes, box elders are male or female. These are the female flowers, but I posted a shot of the male flowers a post or two ago. They aren’t quite as exciting as the female flowers, in my opinion.
It is a great time to be outside. I hope you’re getting more time to yourself now, especially since I know that you love spring too. It passes too quickly. It was in the mid 70s here today and really felt more like summer, but that could have been because I was climbing up and down hills all afternoon.
C.S. Lewis – that is me to a T (tee? tea?) 🙂 i want to absorb certain beauty i see into my very being. plant, sunset, fall leaves, a person, even!
continuing to be soooo blessed by your blog!
Thanks very much Shana. I’m happy that you get something from it.
I don’t see too many nature quotes by C.S. Lewis, but the one on beauty seemed to make perfect sense to me because that’s how I feel most of the time.
kindred spirits!
Yes!
You’ve given me a new appreciation for the dandelion.
That’s the idea!
I’m such a fan of your blog. Thank you. And agree with all the previous comments about the dandelion. magnificent!
Thanks very much Robin. I’m glad that you’re enjoying the blog. I thought it was time we all had a real good look at a dandelion!
Last Monday I found another sedge blooming, a new one to me, and thought of you (though our leaves are coming along, I still wouldn’t say we were leafed out yet). I’ve tentatively ID’ed it as twisted sedge (Carex torta).
I’ve only seen bluets planted in gardens, not as lawn weeds. How pretty!
I’ve had problems with red flowers as well, but figured it was just me, as putting them in shadow didn’t seem to help. Nice to know they’re actually hard!
Along with myrtle and lilac I see a lot of orange daylilies at old house foundations, and especially roadsides where there are no longer homes.
Wonderful post, as always!
Thank you Sara. I’m glad you’re finding some sedges. I’ve never seen twisted sedge but I never know what I’ll run into, so I could find it this year. It sounds interesting.
We have bluets in most of the lawns here and you see carpets of them at this time of year. They’re beautiful.
Red flowers are very hard to get a good photo of and so are yellow ones. I usually underexpose for both and hope I get lucky.
Yes, the orange daylilies are a plant I forgot to mention. I see them in old cemeteries too, so our ancestors thought pretty highly of them.
Thank you for the ramble and your finds. It’s so hard to keep up with spring – beauty overwhelms. I went out on my lunch break two days ago (I work in Colrain, MA, near the North River) to poke around for fiddleheads and found much more, to my delight. Sure, there were a few ostrich ferns breaking the surface, but ramps!!!! Oh my goodness. As far as I could see. We had a few sauteed with collards that night.
But other treasures awaited: trout lilies were just starting, blue cohosh and its strangely colored blossoms was unfurling, bloodroot, and, to my surprise, many nice plaintain-leaved sedges – just as you posted this! We discussed the Pennsylvania sedge from your post the other day, but that description didn’t quite fit these examples. Now, it is crystal clear! The puckered, strongly parallel-veined leaves are very distinctive. The flower spikelets are quite interesting in their tiny, subtle details. A new one for me.
Thank you Rich.
That sounds like a fantastic place. I was just out picking fiddleheads along the Connecticut river the other day but didn’t see anywhere near the variety that you did. I’d love to see the blue cohosh, that’s a plant I’ve never been able to find.
I’m glad you were able to ID the sedge. I found this one completely by accident and almost stepped on it. Apparently they aren’t rare is you saw that many.
Thanks for the information. Someday I’ve got to poke around in the same places that you do!
I’ll post the cohosh on my blog soon. I put up the lowly but welcome coltsfoot today… I am reveling in the bounty bursting forth these days. It’s all good! By the way, I have another, newer blog on which I post sporadically. It’s devoted to the Abenaki culture in this area, particularly through a look at the language and the meaning of words. https://sokokisojourn.wordpress.com/ Your occasional mentions of native medicinal uses are always a delight!
Yes, this time of year can keep a nature photographer running from plant to plant! It’s amazing how much there is to see.
I’ve visited your other blog before but never put the link in my favorites. This time I will. I love history and knowing how Natives used a plant is extremely interesting to me, so I always try to find the history of a plant.
Love those trout lilies. But the photo that’s most beautiful: your shot of the dandelion. Who’da thunk it?
By the way, our bloodroot bloomed two weeks ago or more, so finally, something here bloomed earlier than in your neck of the woods.
Thank you Cynthia. There’s a lot to see in a dandelion!
That’s interesting that your bloodroot bloomed so much earlier. We’ve been in the clouds for over a week so if you had plenty of sun maybe that’s why.
Stunningly beautiful photos. Love the dandelion (and commentary!). My camera battery is charging and I’m going to Temple Mountain this morning for the first time this year. Excited! 🙂
Thanks Paula. You’ve got a great day for it! I’ve got a date with a hepatica up in Walpole and I was hoping for good weather.
Nice quotation too. 🙂
Thanks!
I love the close up of the dandelion, they really are quite lovely when you really look. Funny you mentioned lilacs, peonies and vinca frequently found together, I had all 3 in my yard until I cut down the lilacs. Great shot of the tulip.
Thank you Laura. Yes, I was wondering if Georgia O’Keefe had ever painted a dandelion when I saw the close up of it.
Lilac, peonies and vinca were real favorites of the settlers in this area, probably because they were so easy to divide and give away. I don’t know what kind of lilac you had but some are tough enough to sprout again from the stump, so you might still have a lilac.
What a great feast for the senses ~ those are some beautiful photos, can almost smell the scents from my desk. Nothing quite like magnolias. Great opening shot and story of the box elder. Wish you a great weekend.
Thanks very much. Magnolias are all you can smell here right now and their fragrance is wonderful. I hope you’ll have a great weekend as well!
Lovely dandelion, what a splendid flower when looked at properly.
Thank you Susan, I agree!