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Bloom Quiz: A Photo Essay

Hint: If you don’t have a green thumb, don’t worry. I’m drought-tolerant. I’m also NOT what my name implies. There are 80,000 varieties of me and I begin blooming in spring; you can see my blooms from spring to summer. What am I?

Answers at the end.

Photo Abov: Hint: If you don’t have a green thumb, don’t worry. I’m drought-tolerant. I’m also NOT what my name implies. There are 80,000 varieties of me and I begin blooming in spring; you can see my blooms from spring to summer. What am I? © Cathy Anderson

Hint: This flower’s genus and common name refer to its leaves’ resemblance to an organ we can’t live without.
Hint: This flower’s genus and common name refer to its leaves’ resemblance to an organ we can’t live without.
© Jack Looney
Hint: This perennial herb spreads by underground rhizomes and can produce one to nine flower heads per stem.
Hint: This perennial herb spreads by underground rhizomes and can produce one to nine flower heads per stem.
© Russell Carlson
Hint: This tiny spring wildflower is called two-leaf miterwort. What is another, more descriptive name, for it?
© Ed Rehbein
Hint: This flower’s common name also refers to an internal organ and is a member of the poppy family.
© Jack Looney
Hint: This splendid wildflower lives up to its boastful name. It blooms April-May and is found in rich moist woods and trailsides. Each flowering stalk can produce 2 to 12 flowers. What is this dual-colored wildflower from the orchid family?
© David Reed
This fast-spreading ground-hugging member of the mint family is called ground ivy. What is another descriptive name for it?
Hint: This fast-spread ground-hugging member of the mint family is called ground ivy. What is another descriptive name for it?
© Ed Rebein
Blooming in April, this flower is a "gem" among Trillium species.
Hint: Blooming in April, this flower is a “gem” among trillium species.
© Jay Huron
What someone does in the car when they are sleepy, and a type of small orange.
Hint: What someone does in the car when they are sleepy and a type of small orange.
© Sallie Woodring
Hint: Two words: A southern state found just below the Mason-Dixon line and the flower color; plus something that rings in a church steeple.
Hint: Two words: a southern state found just below the Mason-Dixon line and the flower color; plus something that rings in a church steeple.
©Sallie Woodring
This spring ephemeral is easily confused for its close relative, Dutchman's Breeches, because they both have white, heart-shaped flowers, dissected compiund leaves and bloom at the same time and in the same habitat.
Hint: This spring ephemeral is easily confused for its close relative, Dutchman’s Breeches, because they both have white, heart-shaped flowers, dissected compound leaves and bloom at the same time and in the same habitat. © J. Scott Graham
Hint: This flower can provide a beautiful spread of color to the forest in springtime.
Hint: This flower can provide a beautiful spread of color to the forest in springtime.
© Dawnfire Photography
Hint: Deep nectaries and my red color are perfect for hummingbirds and long-tongued insects.
Hint: Deep nectaries and my red color are perfect for hummingbirds and long-tongued insects.
© Joshua Moore

Answers from top to bottom:

  • Daylily
  • Liverwort (genus Hepatica) leaves are vaguely liver-shaped.
  • This flower, one of the species of wild plants in the daisy family, goes by several names: Erigeron pulchellus, Robin plantain, blue spring daisy, or hairy fleabane.
  • It goes by the colorful name of Bishop’s cap.
  • The bleeding heart is so named for its flowers’ shape and is related to the California poppy and bloodroot.
  • Show Orchid (Galearis spectabilis)
  • It goes by the name of creeping Charlie.
  • Jeweled Wakerobin (aka Sweet White Trillium and Confusing Trillium.) Trillium simile is one of the rarer trilliums, being found only in certain mountain areas of Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina, and is considered endangered in North Carolina.
  • Nodding mandarin
  • Virginia bluebell
  • Squirrel Corn is so named because of its small, yellow tubers (looking roughly like kernels of corn), that are eaten by squirrels.
  • Blue flowers are tiny, and bloom in late April through early June, depending on elevation.
  • Columbine, also known as Aquilegia Canadensis.

The story above first appeared in our March / April 2025 issue.

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