Ranunculus sceleratus
Ranunculus allegheniensis
Small-Flowered Crowfoot (Ranunculus abortivus). Also known as Kidneyleaf Buttercup (from the shape of the basal leaves) or Little-Leaf Buttercup, this is the sort of spring flower we pass right by on our way to the more spectacular ones. A close look reveals a typical buttercup flower, but with very small petals, pale yellow or cream, on a little plant that is “slightly succulent” (as Gray puts it).
Blisterwort (Ranunculus recurvatus). Also known as Hooked Crowfoot, this is another small and easily ignored species of buttercup. The plants favor moist woodlands, frequently in fairly dim light; they often form colonies along forest paths.
Ranunculus pensylvanicus
Ranunculus hispidus
Ranunculus septentrionalis
Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus repens). A common guest in our lawns, where you might as well get used to it, because it won’t go away without a fight. Children love the reflective petals, and they look particularly poetic with raindrops on them. A number of different species of Buttercup, all with similar flowers, have established themselves from Europe; this one can be recognized by its habit of sending out stolons—stems that root at the end and form another plant
Ranunculus acris
Lesser Celandine (Ficaria
verna). Formerly known as Ranunculus
ficaria, Lesser Celandine is a European import
that is rapidly colonizing our stream valleys. Only
seven years ago we wrote that it was “not very common
around here except in a few stream valleys,” but since
then it has popped up a number of other places where
it was previously unknown. It forms immense carpets of
bright yellow in the spring.
Early
Meadow-Rue (Thalictrum dioicum). As the
species name implies, this species has dioecious
flowers (from Greek meaning “two houses”): that is, it
bears male and female flowers on separate plants. The
female flowers are little upright greenish clusters,
but the male flowers are more common and more
charming. In spite of the common name, Early Meadow
Rue seems to prefer woods to meadows.
Thalictrum revolutum
Thalictrum polygamum
Anemonella thalictroides
False Rue-Anemone (Enemion biternatum).
This plant is not recorded in any of the references as
existing in Pennsylvania. We are very close to
positive in this identification, however, and there is
a large patch of it in the Squaw Run Valley in Fox
Chapel. It resembles the Rue Anemone, Thalictrum
thalictroides, but its even carpet of three
three-parted leaflets identifies it, as do the
invariably white five-petaled flowers (actually the
“petals” are sepals) and the habit of forming a dense
colony.
Hepatica americana
Hepatica acutiloba
Anemone virginiana
Virgin’s Bower (Clematis virginiana). Our native autumn Clematis, very similar at first glance to the Asiatic Autumn Clematis (Clematis terniflora) that has made itself at home in our city lots. The leaves, however, are quite different: they are three-parted, with a tendency to be toothed, especially toward the ends of the leaflets.
Autumn Clematis (Clematis terniflora).
A garden ornamental that has made its escape into the
wild, this vine has not yet become an invasive pest
here, but is fairly common now in vacant lots and
other unexpected places in the city. It covers itself
with little white flowers (usually four-parted, but
with a fair number of five-parted variants) in late
summer, with occasional blooming branches up to frost.
Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella damascena). This popular garden flower often escapes, and where a patch has once been planted, it reseeds itself year after year, spreading to wherever the seeds are carried by rain and gravity. It’s known by a large number of common names, among them Persian Jewels and Rattlebox. The latter name refers to the seed pods, which grow to balls about an inch in diameter that rattle when the seeds ripen and dry.
Aquilegia canadensis
Dwarf Larkspur (Delphinium
tricorne). Not a common plant around
here, but locally abundant. The shockingly blue
flowers and palmate leaves are distinctive: nothing
else remotely like these Larkspurs is blooming in
early spring. They like wooded hillsides and the
company of Trilliums.
Cimcifuga racemosa
Doll’s Eyes (Actaea pachypoda).
A close relative of Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa),
this plant has smaller round tufts of white flowers.
But its most striking feature is these berries, white
with black pupil-like spots. Doll’s Eyes is certainly
a descriptive name, but a young friend of old Pa
Pitt’s acquaintance suggested that perhaps Insane
Muppet Eyes would be even more descriptive. (The
bright magenta stem adds a certain something.) Do
not eat the berries. They want to kill you.
Can’t you see it in their eyes? Another name for this
plant is “White Baneberry,” and you should take the
“bane” part seriously.
Hydrastis canadensis