Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Trilliums and Tickbites

Just for the record, I found this spring's first Red Trillium today, and also had the first tick of the season pulled from my head this morning. Too bad this Wake Robin (another name for Red Trillium) seems to signal the waking of critters other than robins. Time to break out the DEET.

Here was another critter scrambling about the leaf litter today. I sure wish it feasted on ticks, but unfortunately, these Green Stink Bugs are vegetarians and eat only fruits and vegetables.




Field Horsetail Reeds are also up and in "flower" -- or at least, the fertile stalks are. I only saw these pallid spore-producing stalks (called strobili), which will wither and disappear once their spores are dispersed, and none of the bright-green sterile stems, which will grow and thrive through the summer, creating whole miniature forests of feathery green.


2 comments:

Andrew Lane Gibson said...

LOVE the Trillium erectum! One of my absolute, hands down favorites of the Spring. I should be seeing some of those this weekend. Can't wait!

Jacqueline Donnelly said...

Well, A.L., isn't it fun to compare the flora of Ohio, where you live, and New York? I just read on your blog that T. erectum is extremely rare in Ohio, and yet it's almost as common as Dandelions here in NY.