Wildflowers Late Winter / Early Spring 2

MichaelStephenWills

With the thermometer in the 60’s on March 10 the “buttercups” of yesterday are open. We we first moved here, the plants were much thinner. I used fertilizer spikes on the Magnolia tree around which they grow. Each early the flowers pollinate, forming seeds and spreading.

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

A tripod held the composition steady and the timer was set to 2 seconds for extra stability at the f25 setting.

Here is a slideshow of yesterday and today’s shots.

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A fellow blogger, Audrey Driscoll’s Blog, provided the correct and exact species name Eranthis hyemalis. The latin name proclaims the early nature of its flowering both in the genus, “Eranthis” – “spring flower”, and species, “hyemalis” – winter flowering. The genus encompasses eight species, all early flowering winter aconite.

Reference: Wikipedia “Eranthis hyemalis” and “Eranthis.”

19 thoughts on “Wildflowers Late Winter / Early Spring 2”

  3. I was born and raised in the West Indies so I am not very familiar with native American wildflowers, but I am learning as much as I can. What are these flowers? I searched online, and it seems there are three species of flowers in the Mid-Atlantic area that are commonly called buttercup: Ranunculus bulbosus, Ranunculus abortivus, Ranunculus glaberrimus.

    I think the one featured in your post is Ranunculus glaberrimus also commonly called Sagebrush Buttercup, Shiny-leaved Buttercup, Early Buttercup in New Jersey.

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  7. They’re so bright and cheerful! But I don’t think they’re buttercups (Ranunculus). I think they’re Winter Aconites (Eranthis hyemalis). Both are members of the Ranunculaceae family, though, so there is a “family resemblance.”

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    1. Perfect, Audrey. After giving up on an identification I just called them “buttercups.” I will make the correction, although it is too late to update the keyword metadata of the images released (“too much work”). Will give you credit.

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      2. My pleasure, Audrey. Yes, buttercup is technically correct, though these did not fit in with my experience of buttercups. Around here they bloom late spring. It was a “relief” to have the precise id.

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