Sepals – Tendrils

Common Blue-eyed Grass

A clump of grass in early spring becomes green streaks, highlighted with six pointed dots of cheery blue. Common Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium) is native to the eastern two thirds of the United States and Canada.

Though “grass” is in the common name, it is not a grass at all but is in the iris family of plants. This Blue-eyed Grass is an herbaceous perennial that is a spot of joy in spring. And quite an amazing thing if you’re watching the development of what seems to be that clump of grass wondering what it is.

If you look at those blades with knowing eyes, you can see the look of iris stems containing buds.

It is surprising for me to learn that the each flower actually consists of only three petals along with three nearly twin sepals, creating the look of six petals. The flowers are doll house sized, about one half inch across with each petal or sepal having a pointed tip and a slight indentation on either side of the tip.

The seed capsule, seen just below a flower in the above image, will split into three sections at maturity. The small black seeds to be a carried just a short distance with the wind.

As I was collecting these photographs, I took a trip to Florida and came upon a different species of Blue-eyed Grass. White Blue-Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium albidum). Delighted to make this find.

Back in Virginia I’m enjoying my natives that bring me such pleasure.

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Yellow Trillium

Not quite native to Virginia though I’m quite pleased to have these flowers blooming in my gardens. Yellow Trillium (Trillium luteum) is native to Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky. Some speak of a lemony scent. It must be mighty subtle. I don’t detect it.

The plants emerge from underground rhizomes which will spread slowly if left undisturbed. I’m leaving them undisturbed but they really are slow to spread. But they do seem to be quite happy! The flower consists of three tall slightly twisted lemon yellow petals and three slim green sepals sitting in the middle of a circle of three leaves. That’s really 3-ness!

Black Cohosh

A wonderful sight in late June early July. Blooms of Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) when there are few other flowers blooming in the woods.

Black Cohosh is a herbaceous perennial native to eastern North America. Quite plentiful here in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Rising above their leaves on tall stems to six or eight feet. Those clusters of flowers on their tall stems make me think of spirits of long ago residents of these mountains. Spirits from the past, back again to look over their land, their roots. Watching to see that we care for their mountains with love and wisdom.

Right now, in late April, leaves of Black Cohosh have reached up from their underground rhizomes. Extending to a height of two or two and a half feet. Leaves waiting. Waiting for tall stems to form.

Tall stems that in turn form racemes. (A raceme is a flower cluster with the separate flowers attached by short equal stalks at equal distances along a central stem.) The stems can grow to be six or seven feet tall, and the portion of it that is the raceme, can be about twenty inches.

Flowers without petals, without sepals. Many long stamens surrounding a stigma, all snow white. The flowers have a unique unpleasant aroma that attracts flies, gnats, beetles, bees and some butterflies. Both the Spring Azure Butterfly and the Appalachian Azure Butterfly rely on Black Cohosh as its larval host.

I’m looking forward summer and greeting these visions of the past.

Virginia Springbeauty

I’ve got itty-bitty buds on my Virginia Springbeauty (Claytonia virginica). Buds that look very much like really teeny tiny jalapeño peppers. What looks to me like those jalapeño peppers are sepals. Sepals are leaf-like structures surrounding and protecting the maturing bud. The number of sepals varies in difference species of flower. In Virginia Springbeauty there are two sepals for each flower. Look at the bud that has just opened in the lower left corner of the above image. The bud looks as though it is coming out of the mouth of (hmmm what? maybe . . . ) a crocodile. That “crocodile” is the two sepals that are opening for the bud/flower to come out.

Virginia Springbeauty is found in and is native to eastern North America.

The plant emerges from a tuber (also called a corm) as a stem with leaves at ground level. Halfway up the stem there are two blade-like leaves and further up the stem are the flowers. The flowers of Virginia Springbeauty are about one half inch across.

The flowers are pollinated by bees, flies and sometimes butterflies and skippers. The resulting fertilized flower will produce a capsule that contains seeds with appendages called elaiosomes which ants like to feed to their larvae in their underground nests, producing the perfect “ant farmer” situation.

I think it’ll be perhaps a week until my flowers open. Open during the day, closed at night or during cloudy days. I’m looking forward to finding them open, looking like peppermint candy.

Sassafras Trees Are Dioecious

Seems winter has given up. Spring has won the battle of the seasons and is stepping through the woods. Right now, mid-April, Sassafras Trees (Sassafras albidum) are in bloom throughout the woods of the Blue Ridge Mountains in central Virginia. Creating a soft watercolor wash of pale yellow.

Sassafras is a dioecious tree, meaning any Sassafras tree that you may come upon in the woods or in your yard is either a female tree or a male tree. Each individual tree’s flowers in turn are either female flowers or male flowers. The blossoms in the image immediately above are female flowers. Each female flower is very small at about one third inch across. Each has six sepals, an elongated central pistil and six small sterile stamens.

The male flower to my eyes looks like a busier flower. These are male flowers in the photo above. Each little flower, one third inch across, consists of six sepals and nine stamens with yellow anthers.

Going from tree to tree, the flowers are pollinated by various bees, flies, sawflies, beetles and wasps. Fertilized female flowers produce oval drupes. A drupe is also known as a fleshy fruit with thin skin and a central stone containing the seed. Drupe is easier to say.

When the drupes are ripe, reaching a deep blue-black color, seated on a pedicel that appears to be a rich red goblet, songbirds, Wild Turkeys, and Bobwhites enjoy the buffet and spread seeds through the woods. Bringing us more gorgeous Sassafras Trees.

Wood Poppy Revisited

I’ve written about Wood Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) before but I enjoy the native flower with its happy yellow so much I’d like to tell you more about it.

The deeply lobed green-blue leaves of Wood Poppy are poking up from the surface of the soil here in the Blue Ridge now, as the month of March approaches its midpoint.

By the beginning of April, I expect I’ll be seeing some woolly buds ready to reveal their four golden petals.

As the flower opens the two pale green sepals that protect the bud soon fall away.

The flowers of Wood Poppy provide pollen but not nectar to their visitors. Those flowers have many stamens that are topped with rich yellow anthers surrounding a pistil, style and stigma.

After insect or self pollination a seed capsule is formed which eventually hangs below the leaves.

Many seeds are released from the capsule. Seeds which are distributed in a process called mymecocory, or in simpler terms, seed dispersal by ants. These seeds have nutrient rich appendages called elaisomes. Ants collect the seeds so that their larvae can be fed the elaisomes and the remains of the seeds are tossed away in the ant colony’s “trash room.”

That trash room in an underground ant colony is the perfect place to start growing seeds. Of course the ants aren’t aware of it, but they are perfect little ant farmers. Starting a new cycle of Wood Poppies.

Rue Anemone

Here in the Blue Ridge depending on your elevation you’ll be seeing Rue Anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides) beginning to bloom around the middle of April.

This spring ephemeral is native to deciduous woodlands of eastern North America. So small, you must really look for them along the trail. They grow to only four to eight inches high.

Also known as Windflower, the flower’s thin stems give way to their waving in the tiniest breeze.

The flower itself has no actual petals, but is a circle of white or pink sepals with a dense cluster of small green pistils in the center. Those pistils are in turn surrounded by stamens with white filaments and soft yellow anthers. In summer each of the blooms are replaced by four to fifteen pale green turning to dark brown achenes, which is a fruit containing a single seed.

In May, trailside with another native flower, Golden Ragwort (Packera aurea).

And in the middle of August as things begin to shut down, take a rest, slow down and recharge for next spring.

Jeffersonia or Twinleaf

Jeffersonia (Jeffersonia diphylla). In 1792 the botanist Benjamin Smith Barton named this plant after Thomas Jefferson. In 1807 Jefferson had Jeffersonia growing in one of the oval flower beds of Monticello. I’m proud to have something in common with my neighbor Thomas.

Within a matter of four weeks I’ll be searching for these little signs of life. Hints of spring sprouting up from the garden’s soil.

It took missing the arrival of Jeffersonia for a few springs before I etched into my memory to be on the alert. They arrive when there is still snow around. In my gardens generally mid to late March.

Jeffersonia is native to eastern North America but is listed as a threatened or endangered plant in Georgia, Iowa, New York, and New Jersey because of habitat destruction and invasive species.

The flower of Jeffersonia is atop a bare stalk. It’s composed of eight white petals which as a bud were protected by four sepals. Two of those fading sepals can be seen here drooping below the flower, a washed out pale purple with a slight hint of green.

The petals surround yellowish stamens and in the center a green ovary. Quite the fleeting bloom, the petals fall after just a couple days.

A common name for Jeffersonia, Twinleaf, comes from the shape of the leaf. Open butterfly wings. Each pair, one leaf nearly split in two.

The flowers as they decline produce a fruit. A fruit that brings a smile to my heart. Is it a fruit or actually a smiley outer space alien?

The seeds inside this capsule each have an appendage called an elaiosome which attract ants with its lipids and proteins. The ants carry the seeds to their underground nest where the elaisomes are fed to their larvae. After the feeding, the seeds are discarded in the ant’s nest to their “trash room.” The perfect place for seeds to grow. ANT FARMERS! If you would like to add a fancy word to your vocabulary, this whole process of “ant farming” is called myrmecochory.

Tall Anemone

Tall Anemone (Anemone virginiana). A gift that shows up in my gardens thanks to Mother Nature. Filled with delight when it makes an appearance as a volunteer.

A plant native to eastern North America where it can be found in 38 of the 50 United States. In the north from Maine to Minnesota and clear to the south, Georgia and Louisiana.

A beautiful flower which has a trick up its little sleeve. Those “petals” of white or pale green are not petals at all but are sepals. And take a look at the photo above, with the crab spider on the lower right sepal. It’s just waiting to pounce on a pollinator that may come by.

The central yellow green area is the pistillate head which is encircled by stamens topped with yellow or light brown anthers. Those anthers are covered with pollen that lures hoverflies, sweat bees and other small bees.

Summer moves along. The sepals fall away and the pistillate head expands as seeds are created.

Those seeds become surrounded in a woolly world. Fluff that becomes a transportation system. Caught by the wind the seeds are sent on their way.

But that transportation system takes time. See that snow? Over the winter the seed heads persist waiting for the perfect breeze. And waiting for something else.

As the pollen lures pollinators, the fluff of the seed pod lures nest builders.

Come spring birds are assembling nests. Nests occasionally of fluff.

A Pine Warbler (Setophaga pinus) knows where to find its fluff. In the garden next to the daffodils. Perfect for the nest.