Sunday, April 11, 2010

Number 524

Common Yellow Violet, Viola pubescens, is the 524th plant species found at Blue Jay Barrens. You wouldn’t think that something as showy as this could have eluded me for almost 25 years, especially since I’ve paid a lot of attention to the violets. That is really a beautiful bloom.

This is the view I experienced when I found the first plant. I sat and admired it for several minutes before taking any pictures. The only downside is that it’s located on the part of the property farthest from the house. I’ll see if I can collect some seeds and get a few growing nearer.

The brownish veins on the petals give a striking contrast. Having this violet described as being common doesn’t detract from the joy of discovery. I know there are still a lot of plants at Blue Jay Barrens that haven’t made it on to my list. I’m working hard to add to that list by being more systematic in my searches and becoming more proficient at plant identification.

There are several violet plants in this area. If I missed seeing the violets, I probably missed seeing some other plants. I’ll have to keep checking here periodically throughout the summer. I hope I wasn’t standing on number 525 while I was taking this picture.

4 comments:

  1. That's a real cutie:) Good find !!

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  2. I haven't run into any of these yet this year. I've seen plenty of Common Blues (which sure look purple to me), and I usually run into the Sweet Whites by now, but I haven't found them yet. Getting ready to go out and photo some flowers right now. One of my favorites, Bluets, just started blooming! By the way, congrats on adding another species to your property list. That's quite an impressive tally!

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  3. I hope you weren't standing on 525 either! Congrats on 524. It's a beaut!

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  4. grammie g - Thanks. Cute is one of the things that went through my mind when I first saw it.

    Heather - Thanks. Hope you found some neat flowers while you were out. I noticed some Bluets blooming when I was out yesterday.

    Kelly - Thanks. At one time I thought I might mark each new plant find by stepping on it. It seemed that every time I noticed a new plant, I would look down and see another of the same species sticking out from under my boot. It really got me paying attention to where I put my feet.

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