First Spring Beauty

First Spring Beauty

The snow trillium was in full bloom, and I photographed it once again, but this is flower is the story of the day. It is the first Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) of the season. Well, the first I found, and at the moment it appeared to be the only spring beauty along this particular trail. This flower I’m going to guess had opened within a matter of minutes before my arrival. The shapes of the petals and interior parts do not quite have the familiar appearance of mature blooms. The flower is going to be flatter and larger, with more hints of blue and less green at the base of the petals. The stamens look a little crumpled here, as if still in the process of unfolding like the solar arrays on a satellite. I had to look down the stalk to see the rest of the plant to verify that it was a spring beauty. It had a sister blossom on the same plant ready, but not open. Spring beauties actually bloom quite a while. They peak early in spring, but continue to show new blossoms to slowing degrees for several weeks afterward. Their tiny blooms become lost among the larger competition that will be along shortly. This bloom is perhaps a quarter inch wide presently, but it’s not fully open just yet.

Elsewhere spring has sprung here finally. Dutchmans Breeches, Trout Lily and Hepatica were showing leaves. I’m sure more early species such as bloodroot and cut-leaf toothwort will be along very quickly. The birds are in the act, too; I heard an Eastern Phoebe singing and saw a pair of Eastern Bluebirds feeding on this same walk.

The camera was a Nikon D90. The lens was my favorite macro lens, the Micro-Nikkor 60mm AF f/2.8. The grain is straight from the camera, though enhanced just a tad with the definition and sharpening tools in Aperture. I cropped this one for pinterest. Hi, ladies!

 

One thought on “First Spring Beauty

  1. Pingback: Touch of Spring | Happenings on the Hill

Comments are closed.