Friday, March 6, 2009

Trout lilies, Oconee bells, and bloodroot

On a lunch time walk, my friend Meg and I saw our first spring woodland wildflowers. An early bloodroot flower on the Heusel Nature Trail foreshadowed the hundreds that will soon be in bloom.

In the Woodland Wildflower Garden, a single trout lily was open, but a group of Oconee Bells were in full flower across from Crucible (our first nature-based sculpture).

We also admired a lovely deciduous holly (Ilex decidua) full of berries in the Arboretum, near the longleaf pines, along with a prickly juniper (which definitely lived up to its name).

A mystery Juglans species puzzled us; the fruits looked like miniature teasels, and very un-Juglans like -- Juglans is the genus that walnuts are in. (A Google search on Juglans ailantifolia reveals that this should be a Japanese relative of walnuts.... hmm. I think we have an imposter!)

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