The official 2010 Spring wildflowers thread...

[1HappyHiker]

First of all, my apologies for the lack of crispness in the images shown below, and also my apologies for being so unskilled at flower identification. I'm trying to improve my skills, but have a very long way to go!

Anyway, in my travels over the past 2 weeks, I've frequently come across flowers shown in the 2 photos below. I've looked online, and have looked in the National Audubon Field Guide to Wildflowers (eastern edition), and just cannot seem to find anything that I perceive to be a good fit. I'm not even sure if the 2 plants shown below are the same plant, or if they are 2 different plants. It would not surprise me to learn that these are just some sort of common weed like a dandelion!

 

[JohnL]

John,
Don't apologize for any perceived lack of knowledge. We all start at the same place in our quest for knowledge. I've had to make several corrections on this thread for flowers I have mis-identified so all of us are still learning. The more I learn, the more I realize what I don't know.
Your flowers are called Heal-all (Prunella vulgaris). In my Audubon book it is the last flower photo.
Keep shooting. Have fun.

JohnL

 

[blaze]

A visitor emerges from deep inside a Spotted Touch Me Not.

 

[w7xman]

Whoa...amazing jewelweed just above me! RickB...love the rattlesnake orchid!

Woodland orchid season is just getting going...found this (small?) purple fringed today!

 

[bikehikeskifish]

A bee on thistle on Horns Pond Trail (Bigelow Range, Stratton, ME)

Tim

 

[JohnL]

The orchids look other-worldly. Very nice!
Nice bee shots also. They do tend to make things difficult by jiggling the flowers.

From early this morning:

Evening Primrose

JohnL

 

[audrey]

No picture, but an observation, and a question...
I saw early coralroot (corallorhiza trifida) today ( I think). Am I right in thinking that is somewhat uncommon in NH/VT?

Jason,
It's rather late for C. trifida. I found my first one ever on May 16 beside a stream at about 2K elevation on Mt. Kearsarge.

 

[RickB.]

A couple of orchids in Belknaps today.

Another Rattlesnake Plantain. Tiny wonders.

And this, need help.

 

[audrey]

Rick,

That's helleborine (Epipactis helleborine). One of our most common orchids, I've even found it growing along the asphalt in a parking lot.

 

[RickB.]

Thanks, Audrey!
The other helleborines I've encountered in the past have been greener; probably not as fully in bloom.

 

[Jason Berard]

From a hike today to a remote pond on the west side of Smarts called Lily Pond:

monkeyflower

turtlehead

and keeping with the animal theme; a thrush nest with beautiful blue eggs!

The monkeyflower was growing on top of an old beaver dam on lower Lily Pond. The turtlehead was in a wetland, where I saw more turtlehead in one spot than ever before! The thrush's nest was right in the middle of the wetland.

Last week on a local walk in the woods, I saw lot of spotted coralroot as well....

 

[Jason Berard]

ID help please!
some kind of ladies tresses?

The next two are of a flower that has gone by, and I'm REALLY bad at identification when there's no flower! could these shots be of a wood lily? If so, I need to go back next year, earlier, as I've never seen a wood lily in bloom.

Many thanks to those wiser than me for assistance!

jason

 

[arghman]

ID help please!
some kind of ladies tresses?

dunno, looks like an orchid, not Spiranthes, doesn't quite look like Epipactis helleborine, needs a closeup of the flowers and/or basal leaves.
edit see Newcomb's Guide p.44 Habenaria sp. (H. flava or H. clavellata?) = Platanthera sp.

The next two are of a flower that has gone by, and I'm REALLY bad at identification when there's no flower! could these shots be of a wood lily? If so, I need to go back next year, earlier, as I've never seen a wood lily in bloom.

yes, a lily, probably wood lily (Lilium philadelphicum). Try next June. They tend to like rich soil.

 

[JohnL]

Cardinal Flower

Unknown - need some help on this one.

JohnL

 

[Jason Berard]

I'll add a close-up, even though its grainy.
I don't have Newcomb's...I need to get it! I'm looking on the CT. botanical site.
I think you're on the right track....the sight was on a slope, mostly hemlocks...moist, but not wet soil.

(edit: I think its Platanthera hyperborea)
http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/platantherahype.html

 

[arghman]

Unknown - need some help on this one.

weird. No idea, I can't even tell you which family. It either looks like a mutated version of something I should know, or it's a garden escape.

 

[nartreb]

I'm confident it's an impatiens (related to jewelweed). I like the garden-escape theory. None of the wild impatiens in the PLANTS database comes close, but I. balsamina shows up in seed catalogs in lots of colorful and showy variations.

 

[JohnL]

Excellent detective work! I'll have to re-file this into the Wannabe Wild folder. Thanks for the help.

JohnL

 

[JohnL]

Joe Pye Weed with a visitor

Butter and Eggs

JohnL

 

[w7xman]

Mutant Alert!

Love the true color of cardinal flower...great shots of it above...

Found this WHITE one in a patch of red today...anyone ever see one of these?