Spring Flowers

It is sure nice to see the ephemeral flowers making their way into bloom. Harbinger of Spring (Erigenia bulbosa) has been blooming for a couple weeks near Cincy. Limestone Bittercress (Cardamine douglassii) and Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) have been blooming for about a week. This week I saw my first Rue Anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides) in bloom. The plants on the wooded hillside seem almost too tiny to flower. (Thalictrum thalictroides used to be Anemonella thalictroides.)

On a little wooded terrace above a stream, Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla) was blooming. The colors of the almost open leaves were prettier than the flowers in my eyes. I had walked by these flowers in the morning, and they were not open. Later in the afternoon they had opened.