I featured some tiny white forest wildflowers in a recent posting. Here now as a companion to that posting are a few images of colorful forest wildflowers that I have seen when exploring recently in Prince William County.
The first shot is a small wildflower known simply as a Bluet (Houstonia caerulea). The flower in the second image is the appropriately named Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica), known also as the Eastern Spring Beauty, because there is also a similar Western Spring Beauty (Claytonia lanceolata). I do not know for sure the name of third flower, but I believe that it is some kind of wild violet.
As always, I welcome assistance in identifying my subjects, particularly if I have misidentified one. Thanks.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Thanks again for bringing your spring into my autumn. The Spring Beauty is new to me, and so aptly named. How delicate and intricate!
I looked at the range map for the Eastern Spring Beauty and it looks like it may reach as far west as Minnesota. It is only around for a relatively short time between March and May.
The violet is also known as Wood Violet I believe. They are all over our front yard! They are also edible. Some people “candy” them for fancy luncheon plates.
Edible? Wow, I might have to taste one. 🙂
All of these are very nice, Mike.
You’re correct in third flower. Woodland violet. Lovely shots!
Blue Rock Horses Frederick County, Virginia bluerockhorses.com
Nice series of images Mike! Enjoyed seeing them!
These are wonderful, Mike. I was going to help with identification: they are all small wildflowers. That’ll be two cents please. 😉
Bluet is blue,
spring beauty’s a beauty,
violet is violet.
5c please Mike. Thank you 😉
😉
Love it, Liz. 🙂
Lovely to see these bright little signs of spring.
I adore spring wildflowers – just what we need after winter. Lovely captures, Mike!
Thank, Eliza. Many of these little flowers aren’t around for long, so I was happy to be able to photograph so many of them.
I am smiling! After a few days away from the computer other than reading some news reports, I just read your post that features the lovely white wild flowers. In my comment I wrote about the wild violets that are abundant all over my backyard. One is the very same violet as in the third photo! So tiny and so beautiful and edible! I believe this Bluet is the same flower that grew wild at my Gram’s farm that were called Quaker Ladies by her and Bluet by my Mother. The Eastern Spring Beauty is indeed just that and I have never seen one of those. Thank-you, Mr. Mike!
I am happy to see that you liked my little wildflower postings and quite frankly I am not surprised. I have never heard it before, but I really like the name Quaker Ladies–it is so much more colorful than Bluet.
The Spring Beauties I see up here on our side of the river are mostly white or pink. The pink ones are actually white with more pink stripes, so they look pink. This one is lavender! Was it typical of those you found in Prince Wm?