Trout Lily

 Trout Lily In Bloom and a Trillium about to open.

Erythronium americanum Ker Gawl. Yellow Trout-lily, American Trout-lily, Eastern Trout-lily, Yellow Dogtooth Violet, Adder's Tongue. Liliaceae (Lily Family), Recognized by its brown-mottled leaves, this is one of our most common spring wildflowers, found in sizable colonies. The name Trout Lily refers to the similarity between the leaf markings and those of the brown or brook trout. The flower blooms in early spring. The solitary, yellow, nodding flower has six petals. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). Trout Lily is both medicinal and edible. The leaves have a very mild flavour and the flowers have a slight sweetness due to their nectar and are also slightly acrid. The corms are edible as well and have a cucumber-like taste. Trout lilies are an emetic (makes you throw up), therefore it is recommended not to eat mass quantities of these in one day. You can add this plant to a salad or eat them as a trail snack. You can also make a tea with the flower, leaves or corm (or all). Corms can be roasted. Please forage responsibly.

You will find this flower in sizable colonies with plants bearing a single, nodding, yellow flower. Non-flowering plants also occur which are either too young or too crowded to flower. Flowers are critical sources of pollen and nectar for early-season pollinators. Just like bloodroot, trout lily seeds are dispersed by ants. 

Trout Lily & It's Shadow

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Hepatica

Spring Woodland Flowers

Hepatica

Liver leaf. Extracts or decoctions made from the leaves have been used in herbal medicine for the treatment of liver ailments, gallbladder ailments and digestive disorders, and to treat coughing and bronchitis. Although poisonous in large doses, the leaves and flowers may be used as an astringent, as a demulcent for slow-healing injuries, and as a diuretic.

THANKS FOR YOUR VISITS, FAVS AND COMMENTS. AS ALWAYS, APPRECIATED VERY MUCH!  © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY ELISE T. MARKS. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS IMAGE ON WEBSITES, BLOGS OR ANY OTHER MEDIA WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Disclaimer

My blog is meant to inform and I strive to be totally accurate. It is solely up to the reader to ensure proper plant identification. Some wild plants are poisonous or can have serious adverse health effects.

 

Dutchman's Breeches

Dutchman's Breeches

Since they look like women's bloomers,

I think they should be called Dutch Woman's Bloomers.

Dicentra cucullaria. With white flowers, that resemble upside-down pantaloons or breeches, on a leafless stalk above, fern-like leaves, this forest plant prefers dappled sunlight of woodlands especially along gentle slopes, ravines, or ledges along streams. One of the earlier wildflowers to bloom, Dutchman's breeches is one of many plants whose seeds are spread by ants, who take the seeds to their nest, where they eat the elaiosomes, and put the seeds in their nest, where they are protected until they germinate in a medium made richer by the ant nest debris.

THANKS FOR YOUR VISITS, FAVS AND COMMENTS. AS ALWAYS, APPRECIATED VERY MUCH!  © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY ELISE T. MARKS. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS IMAGE ON WEBSITES, BLOGS OR ANY OTHER MEDIA WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT WRITTEN PERMISSION.