Yeah, I know. I haven’t posted anything here since September. I don’t know when I’ll post again, as I have been tremendously busy of late, and that promises to continue through at least the end of the summer. Don’t hold your breath for another – I don’t know when that will be.
Yesterday I took a lap around my woods trail and saw that the Sheep Laurel (Kalmia angustifolia) and partridge berry (Mitchella repens) were in bloom. I took some photos, and returned this morning for a few more. Here’s what I got.
Sheep laurel (Kalmia angustifolia)
These haven’t bloomed on my property in quite some time, and this is a new patch of them that I have never seen in bloom. I really like them!
Patridge berry (Mitchella repens)
I thought this shot of the partrige berry was pretty OK! Patridge berries generally have two flowers with four petals each, and fused at the base. They combine to make a single berry with two “eyes”. I was a bit surprise to see an unusual pair of them, one of which had five petals. I don’t recall having ever seen one that didn’t have four petals, so I had to document…
5-petaled partidge berry (Mitchella repens)
When I finished documenting that one, I saw another – this one had a pair sporting three-petals on one, and five on the other:
3-petaled and 5-petaled patridge berry (Mitchella repens)
It was not a particularly good looking specimen, but I had never seen one with three petals either. So here’s the proof.
Jomegat's Weblog 
June 14, 2015 at 5:48 pm
I like laurels too, especially the pink bog laurel. I never see sheep laurel here but I’m sure it must be.
I was just taking photos of partridgeberry yesterday, but they all had 4 petals. 3 and 5 is really unusual, I would think. You did well showing their hairiness, which I had a hard time with.
June 14, 2015 at 6:30 pm
I’ve had a very hard time with that too, which is why I knew to pay attention to it this time.