Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Wildflowers: May 25, 2010

Today I will catch up some with the wildflowers.
First the Buttercups or Caltha paulstrus that grows quite freely in wet areas here.  They are also called Cowslips and Marsh Marigolds.  I always look for these as a signal that winter is finally over, they start blooming in early May and bloom for most of the month.
I found a bunch of Leafy Spurge down by the river. It is Euphorbia esula..rolls right off the tongue doesn't it? It is a non native, it is an introduced plant from Europe.  Minnesota considers it a noxious weed.  It has a milky sap and is quite poisonous with it's laxative properties.  Think pooping yourself to death.

The pretty little Wood Anemone or Anemone quinquefolia has a single white flower..it is a plant that is native to Minnesota and is also called Mayflower.  These are found quite readily in our woods.

One of my favorite colors..yellow..the Common Dandelion or Taraxacum officinale.  It is actually many tiny flowers clustered together..beauty is in the eye of the beholder on this one.  We have many of these non native plants in our yard..

The last one is called Scrambled Eggs.  I had never seen it before.  I searched through a bunch of my books, I cruised the net and finally I put a photo up on the Minnesota Wildflowers Facebook site and it was identified.  Corydalis aurea or Golden Corydalis or Scrambled Eggs.  I found this plant last week when we were planting trees.
This is what the area looks like where it was found.  It was in a small flat topped mounded area, it is on my baby brothers land.  Far Guy thought it might have been one very large ant hill..and it could have been..but there were no active ants.  It has spurred tubular flowers with finely dissected blue green leaves.  This is an endangered plant in some other states but not in Minnesota.

I like finding new plants, but they haunt me until I get them identified and named and can make some sense of them.  Yes, it may be an obsession..there may be a name for it..obsessive compulsive wildflower disorder or OCWD :)


Now for a little fun..what kind of flower is hidden ..being a shy sort of flower..but native to Minnesota and one of my favorites?  It is hidden by one of its petals..what do you think it is..I will reveal it on Thursday!

 

17 comments:

Lanny said...

Your mystery flower? Is it Yellow Lady Slipper? Ah yellow, it is truly one of my favorite colors except in flowers. Blame it on my buttercup, scotch broom and dandelions. My job as a child was pulling broom and lions and now my main adult job is buttercup pulling. Butter cup, argh. But it is very pretty and it grows so well I wish I could like it as much as I like dead nettle.

Emma Rose said...

I would also guess Lady Slipper :)

Patsy said...

me too!
Patsy

DJan said...

I just LOVE the scrambled eggs flower. I've seen it around but didn't know its name, but now I won't forget it. I love your flower arrangements. :-)

Shelley said...

I've always liked buttercup flowers! Never heard of the scrambled eggs flower - but I certainly like the name! Nice photos!!

Rae said...

Just delightful. So pretty. Add me to the list of Lady Slipper guesses.

Linda said...

I'd say Lady Slipper too. Yellow is one of my favorites too............seems like a lot of wild flowers favor it for some reason.

Lynda said...

I didn't know buttercups had those different names. I remember as a child we were told to hold them under our chin and if you saw a yellow reflection, it meant you liked butter. Duh - - - it reflects on everyone! Kids will believe anything, won't they.

T said...

Hi, what a wonderful blog! Beautiful flowers. I love buttercups, and yellow always reminds me of my mom, some of her favorite wildflowers!

Thank you for the nice comment on my blog about Annie, my new Border Collie puppy. Very kind of you:)

Connie Peterson said...

I think that your "scrambled eggs" is what I've always called "butter and eggs" .... do you think so?

I also am guessing Lady Slipper.

LadyFi said...

I love the name 'scrambled eggs' I love dandelions too - so merry in their fields of gold.

I guess Lady Slipper too!

grammy said...

I love to look at them, but seldom remember the names. Fun to read them here.

DayPhoto said...

A set of yellow. This is just so much fun, Connie. Keep it up.

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/

Far Side of Fifty said...

Connie Peterson, No, this Corydalis is called scrambled eggs. Butter and Eggs will bloom in a few weeks..it has different foliage and spreads everywhere. Butter and Eggs is a Linaria and has a small two colored yellow snapdragon type flower that bloom upward on a spike.
Common names can be so confusing:)

Anonymous said...

I love that you try to find the names of the flowers in your photo's. I'm going to be a bit contrary and say Jack in the Pulpit as the mystery plant. Happy OCWD!

Marla said...

A flower called scrambled eggs? How funny.

Con said...

Thank you for posting a great photo of cowslips! I adored these Spring flowers and looked forward to them every year growing up in WI. There hard to find now, so sad. They are a wonderful memory of my youth. thanks, con