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Thursday, April 26, 2012

W is for Wildflowers


  You didn't expect anything else from me, did you? These are just a few beauties from the past week or so. First, a common one, the wild strawberry, Fragaria virginiana. Do I need to say more about that?
wild strawberry Next is one that isn't so often seen. Some may recognize it as a cress, a member of the mustard family. However, look closely at the basal leaves. See how deeply lobed they are? This is the lyre-leaved rock cress, Arabis lyrata. Ellen and I found it along the White River. Yes it's a cousin of the many Arabis which are used in rock gardens.
lyre-leaved rock cress Finally, here's another one that the Forest Service is working to restore to the Loda Lake Wildflower Sanctuary. It's a prairie plant, and they are restoring an oak savannah in the old barnyard area. This is Geum Triflorum, prairie smoke. It gets its name because the seed pods are a feathery gray plume that looks smoke-ish.
lyre-leaved rock cress Almost done with this A-Z thing. It's worked out fine, but I have some goodies that haven't fit to show you when we are done.

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12 comments:

Unknown said...

Lovely pictures!

Secondary Roads said...

Wild strawberry. I love it. I have some that grows in the yard near our barn. My favorite is indian paintbrush.

Anne Camille said...

Your photos are lovely.

I was tired by the time I went to write my "W" post last night and now, in the clearheaded morning, I'm wondering how I could not have thought about "wildflowers" as I have taken so many pictures of them this Spring!

Anonymous said...

I think the fact that they sing so sweet and what a lovely name for them.
great to meet you in the A to Z challenge. I appreciate your love of nature and knowledge.
And your love of hiking.

betchai said...

not very familiar except the first one, wild strawberry, i love seeing it coz it is something i do not get to see often here, we mostly have lupines, poppies and coreopsis and a lot of invasive non-native that took over some of the places :(

Anonymous said...

Your wildflowers are so cool! This is a wonderful blog, and I'm so glad I found it! Thanks for stopping by my blog today. It's always fun to meet new visitors:)

Sarah said...

Love the wildlife photos! And I love the premise of the blog - since I could use more reminders of all the beauty around me!

Anonymous said...

I LOVE the Prairie Smoke when the plumes are aflutter ... :-)

I'm too far north for wild strawberry blooms yet but oohed and ah-ed a couple of weeks ago when I drove past a patch of the plants just waiting to burst into bloom.

Great photos and good info about each plant.

Thanks for visiting my A-to-Z blog -- I gotta catch up! (hopefully before the month is finished) And thank you for commenting about technology out of place in a novel. Every bit of input helps.

Tracy said...

Visiting from A to Z Challenge and your blog is lovely! Hang in there; almost finished! and Thank God we only have 26 letters in our alphabet :)

Lynn Proctor said...

i just love wildflowers, thanks!

Ann said...

I get the wild strawberry growing under my deck all the time

gail said...

I'm so glad you stopped by!