Monday, April 4, 2011

Wildflower Walk

We went for a walk in the woods yesterday, and saw the first of the spring wildflowers - trillium, hepatica, and anemone.


These are trilliums. If a trillium flower is picked, the plant is so damaged that it can take years to recover. In some states it is illegal to pick these flowers.


Trillium seeds are spread by ants.


Hepatica, or liverwort, is so called because of the shape of the leaf, which was thought to resemble a human liver.


We saw them in a range of colours, from white to purplish-blue. I think it's strange that the number of petals varies - in this picture there are flowers with six, seven and eight petals.

Big thanks to Don and Danielle, who guided us on this lovely walk.

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