Answers at the end.
Cathy Anderson
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?
Jack Looney
Hint: This flower’s genus and common name refer to its leaves’ resemblance to an organ we can’t live without.
Russell Carlson
Hint: This perennial herb spreads by underground rhizomes and can produce one to nine flower heads per stem.
Ed Rehbein
Hint: This tiny spring wildflower is called two-leaf miterwort. What is another, more descriptive name, for it?
Jack Looney
Hint: This flower's common name also refers to an internal organ and is a member of the poppy family.
David Reed
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?
Ed Rebein
Hint: This fast-spread ground-hugging member of the mint family is called ground ivy. What is another descriptive name for it?
Jay Huron
Hint: Blooming in April, this flower is a "gem" among trillium species.
Sallie Woodring
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.
J. Scott Graham
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.
Dawnfire Photography
Hint: This flower can provide a beautiful spread of color to the forest in springtime.
Joshua Moore
Hint: Deep nectaries and my red color are perfect for hummingbirds and long-tongued insects.
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. For more like it subscribe today or log in with your active BRC+ Membership. Thank you for your support!