Forest Flowers

I took some flower pictures today.

Wood anemone (Anemone quinquefolia)

On the way home from work, I had David pull the car to the side of the road so I could get out and photograph these. I knew what they were from the car, because I found them in this same spot a couple of years ago.

Violet (Viola spp)

On the way back to the car, I found some more violets. I didn’t see them from the car at all. Purple is harder to see from a moving vehicle than white is, so these are bonus blooms.

Dwarf ginseng (Panax trifolius)

I already posted a photo of one of these, but this gives a more rounded view of the flower for a different perspective. I have tons of these in bloom right now.

Gaywings (Polygala paucifolia)

These are just barely opened. I found several that were still closed tightly before I stumbled over these. I think gaywings are one of my favorite springtime forest flowers.

Painted trillium (Trillium undulatum)

I went looking for this one because I knew they should be in bloom by now, and I found a few in this spot last year. I guess it paid off!

 

Coptis trifolia

Yesterday I mentioned that I had taken several shots of some Goldthread (Coptis trifolia), and I thought that maybe some of them had come out pretty OK. Well, I think maybe this one did!

Coptis trifolia

I liked this one so much I uploaded it to the Commons and added it to the WIkipedia article on the plant.

You can see a hi-res version there if that sort of thing interests you.

I’ve been calling this Coptis groenlandica, which is the name Peterson listed for it in my Wildflowers field guide, and that was how I first identified it. However, the more widely accepted name is C. trifolia, and that’s what the USDA, Lady Bird Johnson WIldflower Center, and WIkipedia all call it. I still have it listed as C. groenlandica in my photo database and at Wikiversity though. Maybe I’ll switch over completely some day, but… I’m in no rush.

I had to leave work early today so I could take Penny to the vet. On the way there, I stopped and took a couple of pictures of some bluets:

Azure bluets (Houstonia caerulea)

I stopped though because I thought I spotted some blooms where I knew some wood anemones (Anemone quinquefoilia) grew last year. Unfortunately, I didn’t see them, and Penny was starting to get agitated in the car with David. So I quickly took the bluet portraits and went on.

On the way back though, I thought I saw the anemones again. So I stopped again, and found that I was right:

Wood anemone (Anemone quinquefoilia)

When I got home, I went outside and worked more on Beth's play-house cabin. I think that counts as aerobic activity, so I'm going to just call it that. I did find that the cabin already had at least one resident, though it is not human:

Huge ant

I saw this ant yesterday on the same log, so I shouldn’t have been surprised to see it again today. It’s about an inch and a quarter long. I haven’t yet tried to determine the species, but I’ll try to get to that later tonight.