Sunday, April 18, 2010

Trillies, Lilies, and the Rest of the Bunch

I've been so busy this spring that I haven't had much time to get out and botanize. This past Tuesday evening, I visited property of friends of ours just northeast of Potato Creek State Park in St. Joseph County, Indiana. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough daylight for me to take photos at that time. Today, Lindsay, Bootypants, and I went back to this mesic upland forest to snap some shots.


Trillium recurvatum.


Trillium grandiflorum.


Erythronium americanum. Very few individuals of this species still had flowers; most had dropped petals and were developing fruit.


Arisaema triphyllum.


Asarum canadense. I'd never noticed the white portion of the inside of the calyx.


Claytonia virginica.


Dicentra cucullaria.


Enemion biternatum.


Phlox divaricata. The best I can tell, this is ssp. divaricata, with notched petals. Unfortunately, the references I've seen say that the unnotched variety/subspecies sometimes has notched petals, and vice versa.

Phlox divaricata ssp. laphamii. Notice the unnotched petals. The two varieties apparently overlap near the Indiana-Illinois state line, with ssp. divaricata more eastern and ssp. laphamii more western.


Viola pubescens.


Many other species were blooming, but I missed seeing the earliest species (Sanguinaria canadensis, Erigenia bulbosa, etc.) in Indiana this year.

Additional photos can be found at Through Handlens and Binoculars by clicking here.

3 comments:

  1. Beautiful photos, Scott. I'm glad you had a chance to get out there. I'm embarrassed to say that I never noticed the different types of petals on Phlox divaricata. Thanks for pointing them out!

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  2. Thanks Keith. I haven't paid close attention to which variety/subspecies I see more commonly, but will start to do so now.

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  3. I will also pay more attention to this variation in petal notching. I sometimes mention this phenomenon to field trip groups, and this is a good refresher. I see both notched and unnotched petals in Michigan.

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