Stream Bottoms and Hollows

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I hiked the stream bottoms last Sunday and spent three hours wondering around some of the smaller hollows and tributaries to Little Sewickley Creek.  Trillium is disappearing fast, but some white and blue Violets are still holding on.  ​ And I'm seeing more and more of one of my least favorite plants, so watch out for the Stinging Nettle or you'll be scratching for hours...

​Woodland Stonecrop

​Sedum ternatum

5.19.13

Woodland Stonecrop is a small inconspicuous ground cover that features rosette-like leaves all year round, but at this time of the year has delicate, black tipped white flowers that can carpet the forest floor in some spots.

​Small Flowered Forget-Me-Not (with a visitor)

Myosotis laxa

5.19.13

Forget-Me-Nots are starting to appear along the stream and while a non-native species is in the area, (Common Forget-Me-Nots Myosotis scorpioides), I believe that the specimens I come across the most, Small Flower Forget-Me-Nots (Myosotis laxa) are a native of eastern North America.  But Little Sewickley Creek may be full of both, if not several more varieties and I'll post photos of every one I find.

​Sweet White Violet

Viola Blanda

5.19.13

White Violets are still out, ​the species at right is a Sweet White Violet, distinguished from other white Violets by its blue streaks on the lower petal.  There's actually quite a few Sweet White Violets out right now, they tend to hold on later than the blues and definitely the yellows.  But soon enough they'll fade into the ground only to return next year.

Spreading Jacob's Ladder

Polemonium reptans

5.19.13

Spreading Jacob's Ladder is a new wildflower to me, I've only come across it once in the last two years since I've had my camera, and really don't remember seeing it before that.​  I found this patch growing alongside the stream on an especially damp bank.

​Swamp Dewberry

Rubus hispidus​

5.19.13

​Swamp Dewberry is a creeper that as its name signifies, stays low to the ground and spreads on vine-like runners.  With its bright white flowers punctuated by its black-capped stamens, it is a one of my favorite spring wildflowers.  Even though it produces berries similar to black raspberries, the fruit is too bitter for eating.

More Pictures:

​Stinging Nettle

​Urtica dioica

5.19.13

​Dame's Rocket (non-native and highly invasive yet beautiful)

​Hesperis matronalis

5.19.13

​Dame's Rocket (non-native and highly invasive yet beautiful)

​Hesperis matronalis

5.19.13

Star Of Bethlehem (non-native)

Ornithogalum narbonense

5.19.13

​Wild Geranium

Geranium maculatum​

5.19.13

​May Apple

Podophyllum peltatum​

5.19.13