For a brief period in the spring, the forest floor is carpeted with wildflowers. It is still a little early for most of the wildflowers to appear but on Wednesday I spotted a few early blooming ones during a hike in Prince William Forest Park in Northern Virginia.
The little wild flower in the first photo is the appropriately named Virginia Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica). I love the pops of pink in this flower, especially the stamens. According to Wikipedia, “The individual flowers bloom for three days, although the five stamens on each flower are only active for a single day.” Yikes! I guess the Spring Beauties qualify as being “ephemeral.”
The flower in the second photo is often referred to as a Quaker Lady Bluet (Houstonia caerulea)—it is also known as the Azure Bluet. Later in the spring I am certain to encounter large clusters of this cool little flower, but on this occasion there were only a few of them. I love the simple geometric pattern of the petals that someone decided resembled the traditional hats worn by Quaker ladies.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 