April 18 - Yummy Common Blue Violets!

Did you know that violets are edible and actually taste good? I read that the leaves are packed with vitamins (see a past blog) but a little more research and a taste test revealed that the flower itself is sweet and crunchy. I always thought the term "sugared violets" meant candy ones, but they are real violets with covered with egg whites and sugar! See http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Candied-Violets for a recipe. But you can eat them without the sugar and they still taste great!

Try eating one of these Blue Common Violets1 They're sweet and crunchy.

April 17 - Downy Yellow Violet? and Trillium!

In its half-hearted way, April is trying to warm up, though it's not doing a very good job. It's about 52 degrees, but at least it's sunny. But in this cold weather the flowers seem to be a bit closed.

These days the forest floor is covered with False Rue Anemones. Here's a shot with Tawny and one of the plastic bottles she always finds to play fetch with.

False Rue Anenomes and Tawny waiting to play fetch

I think this is a Downy Yellow Violet, although the leaves look a bit chewed up.

Downy Yellow Violet?

Here's a Common Blue Violet once again. Violets are related to pansies, and this is evident here! 

Common Blue Violet doing a pansy impersonation.

But I was most excited to see a Trillium!

Trillium

Trillium have gotten rarer in the woods near my house. I only spotted two today, but hopefully more will come. Sadly, the Trillium decline has been a cause of contention between a neighbor and myself. This neighbor is convinced that dogs running about will harm the Trillium, so on the rare occasion that she has chosen to speak to me, she has complained about my dogs possibly hurting the flowers. However, it has been shown that Trillium decline is more likely to be caused by changes in soil make-up, and from munching by deer, which studies show are partial to white flowers. My dogs chase off deer so she should probably be thanking me! 

I know protecting nature is an emotional issue, but nature lovers, please research, not react.

April 15 - Wild Geranium, Canada Violet

Once April got here, the weather got cooler and then unpredictable. On Easter (April 8) it was warm with a cold wind, and then it snowed on April 10! So there weren't a lot of new wildflowers blooming for a while. And to be honest I got busy.

These flowers may have bloomed earlier -- I'm just learning to distinguish between one kind of pretty pink flower with five leaves and another kind of pretty pink flower with five leaves. So that's why I almost missed this one. It's a Wild Geranium, and in some ways it looks a lot like a Spring Beauty. Well, from a distance anyway. But you can tell it's a Wild Geranium because of the leaves, which have 5-7 lobes that are coarsely toothed.

Wild Geranium

The root of the Wild Geranium, called Alum Root, has a lot of health uses, although taking too much (more than 15-20 grams at a time) is very bad for you. Anyway, used in a tea it's supposed to stop bleeding gums, ulcers, diarrhea and dysentery. Dried and powdered Alum Root stops bleeding of external wounds on contact. You can find out more at http://voices.yahoo.com/the-health-benefits-alum-root-1817241.html?cat=68.

Another wild flower I nearly missed is the Canada Violet, because it's a little white flower similar to the  Wood Anemone. Again, its leaves are what distinguish it. The Canada Violet has heart-shaped leaves. These are not the greatest shots of them. Canada Violets have beautiful yellow centers. The day this photo was taken, the air was chilly and the flowers were a bit withdrawn. I will try to get a better shot later.

Canada Violet

Canada Violets are endangered, so do not pick them.

March 25 - Dutchmen's Breeches, Common Blue Violet

Another beautiful warm day! Going to be in the 80's again today.

The blue/purple mystery lilies I saw on March 19 are now much sparser. How quickly they faded!

March 19

March 25

   

Today I saw some Dutchmen's Breeches. This is another forest wildflower which blooms early so it can get some sunshine, before tree leaves are fully developed. Only spring bumblebees with a very long probiscus can sip nectar from this flower, although some insects "cheat" by chewing a hole in them.

Dutchman's Breeches

In case you're wondering why these are called "Dutchmen's Breeches," here's a picture of real Dutchmen's breeches!

I also saw a few Common Blue Violets. They are related to pansies and look like pansies from a distance. The flowers may vary in color but they all have heart-shaped leaves.  The leaves are high in vitamins and you can eat them! Some people use them in salads or as cooked greens! BTW, the fly on this flower is very small indeed.

Common Blue Violet

If you're feeling angry about something, eat a violet leaf! Or at least, that's what the Greeks did to moderate anger. Romans drank violet leaves in a wine. Violets were also the favorite flower of Napolean, and when he died he was wearing a lock of violets from Josephine's grave.

There's a ton of other info and uses for blue violet leaves. You can read about them here: http://www.herbalextractsplus.com/blue-violet-leaf.cfm

March 23 - Spring Beauty and Yellow Trout Lily

Another unseasonably warm day -- in the 80's! As you can see below the wood is getting a bit greener.

I found two new wildflowers today!  The first are Spring Beauties.

Spring Beauty

Spring Beauty wildflowers appear white or pink depending on the light. You can identify them by their flower clusters and thin leaves. Notice the striping on the leaves. According to "Wildflowers of Michigan Field Guide" by Stan Tekiela, these serve as "runways" to insects to guide them to the nectar in the middle.

The root of the Spring Beauty is an edible tuber! But the flower has been over-gathered because of this, so unless you are starving, please don't pick them.

The next blossom I found was the only one I saw so far, although I see its leaves all over the place. It was a Yellow Trout Lily. I expect to see a bunch more later because it's one of the more common spring flowers. However, the flowers only bloom once every seven years, so I might not, even though there are bunch of trout lily leaves all over the place!

Yellow Trout Lilies can be identified by their mottled leaves (hence the "trout" name) and 6 backward-curving petals. These flowers are also called "Dogtooth Violets" because the white underground bulb is shaped like a tooth.