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Posted by Gloria on April 5, 2015

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Ok, botany friends--I'm looking for a species confirmation today. This is a red, sessile trillium that is coming up in three different places in my woods. In each place there is only one or two plants growing (not an entire colony). I know that red, sessile trilliums are not native to Virginia, but they are common in other parts of the Southeast, including North Carolina. This may, in fact, be escaped from a neighbor's garden... But meanwhile, do you think it is Trillium cuneatum, or is it Trillium sessile? They are almost identical, and there are at least a half-dozen different common names for both. Thanks for your thoughts!

Cutleaf Toothwort is in the Mustard family. It is one of the first plants to come up on the forest floor and like many of the other spring ephemerals, it flowers and goes to seed quickly--before the trees above them fully leaf out. Clusters of 4-petaled white or pink flowers appear at the top of the Cutleaf Toothwort plant. As the plant's name implies, the leaves are deeply cut, giving them a lacy appearance.

Dutchman's Breeches resemble little pairs of pants hanging out to dry. The white and yellow flowers dangle from a thin raceme above the plant, as if they were suspended from a clothesline. The intricately cut, blue-green leaves are real eye-catchers too, especially when they collect raindrops in perfectly round, glistening spheres.

The forest floor is now a carpet of Spring Beauties! There are two kinds of Spring Beauty in our area of Virginia. This is the most common one–it is called Virginia Spring Beauty or just Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica). The leaves are long and narrow, and somewhat grass-like. The white to pink petals of the flower are lightly etched with pink veins. It is also known as “Wild Potato” because the round corm of the plant is edible! The stripes remind me of old-fashioned peppermint candy.

Bloodroot may or may not have its moment this year. It would normally be among the "first ones up", but cold weather may have keep most of them from performing their springtime rituals. Hope I'm wrong about that...maybe there will be a second coming for Easter!

It's been a rough spring for my favorite wildflower, Twinleaf. Repeated nighttime freezes have knocked back the new growth for the last two weeks. But today, after a good soaking rain and warmer temps, the leaves and flowers are coming up in tandem. Welcome, Spring! @blueridgebotanic

We interrupt this steady stream of bird photos for an announcement: Spring has Sprung! The short-lived season of spring wildflowers is upon us, and it is now rushing forward with lightening speed. You must stop what you are doing right now and go out and enjoy this show! For the beautiful wildflower pictured here, the excitement is about the early buds as much as it is about the flowers. The buds start out purple, then turn a gorgeous pink! Within a day or two, they change to blue as the flowers open. With Virginia Bluebells, each day is a new wonder.

It is March and spring is upon us, even if it comes in fits and starts. Each week a new bird species seems to appear out of nowhere. This week it was Chipping and Field Sparrows. See if you can tell these two species apart...Chipping sparrows are best recognized by their dark rusty caps, bold black eyeline, dark bill, and unstreaked belly. Field Sparrows also have an unstreaked belly, but they lack a black eye line and instead have a subtle white eye ring. Their best identifying trait is their pinkish bill.

Here are a pair of Blue-winged Teal captured toward evening last week in Texas. It was the golden hour, and the water they were floating on glistened like glass. Note the conspicuous white crescent on the male's face and the heavy speckling on his body. Their blue shoulder patches are only visible in flight. #bluewingedteal

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