The First Ephemerals

Our trails at Armuchee Elementary are beginning to bloom.

Here is the Rue Anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides) that hugs rock outcrops along the stream:

Rue Anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides) - Photo by Terrell Shaw

Sometimes mixed with the Rue Anemone is the Rounded-Lobed Hepatica (Hepatica americana) with its leathery ground-hugging leaves and showy purple flowers:

Rounded-Lobed Hepatica (Hepatica americana) - Photo by Terrell Shaw

Scattered through the leaf litter on the forest floor, soaking up the warm sunlight streaming through leafless branches of white oaks, tulip poplars, and assorted hickories, are little Slender Toothworts (Dentaria heterophylla):

Slender Toothwort (Dentaria heterophylla) - Photo by Terrell Shaw

On April 4 I will help Jim Drake lead a wildflower walk at our trail as part of the Georgia Botanical Society Spring Pilgrimage. By then there should be lots of other blooms.