Author Archives: Axie

About Axie

In 2012, I started to keep track of all the wild blooming things as they appeared. As I walk with my dog Lucy, I take note of wildflowers in our neck of the woods—mostly Needham, Dover, Wellesley, Natick, Sherborn and Dedham, Massachusetts. So if you hike in this region and have been wondering about some wildflower you've seen in the woods or meadows or weedy parking lots, there's a good chance you can find information about it here.

Snake’s Head (Checkered Lily)

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FritillariaI love these — they’re so amazing looking. Wild but not local–they’re native to the west. Lily family. Last year I had the wrong latin name on this. Fritillaria comes from the latin fritillus which means dice-box (were they checkered?) and the name meleagris means “spotted like a guineafowl.” Vita Sackville-West: “a sinister little flower, in the mournful colour of decay.” Hm. That’s really not how I feel about them at all…

Snake’s Head Fritillary, Snake’s Head, Chess Flower, Frog-cup, leper lily, Lazarus bell, Checkered Lily, Fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris)

Marathon memorial

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marathon memorialFollowing up about the bombing… the church where my chorus rehearses was closed for a week as that area was shut down as a crime scene. Last week we had rehearsal and first I went over to check out this crowd-sourced memorial that has sprung up. I was just visiting in Illinois and everybody I met who heard I was from Boston wanted to commiserate, to know how I was affected. It felt like the whole nation was shaken up.

Marsh Marigold

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Marsh marigold closeup Marsh marigold in situI’ve seen this two places this year, both times with its feet in the water. The foliage is bad-tasting and toxic, and thus avoided by mammalian herbivores. (I just like to say mammalian herbivores.)

Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris)

Red-eared Slider

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Turtle

There are stone steps leading from our driveway up to the yard, and one day, a turtle was positioned vertically against the bottom step, with one arm mightily extended onto the top of the step, ready to hoist itself up. I went in to get a camera, had to answer the phone, and by the time I got back, she had gone to plan B. (This is how slow I need wildlife to move for me to be able to take their picture.) Anyway, I think this is a red-eared slider, which is the kind of turtle that people have as little pets, and so many have been released, they are an invasive species in the Northeast. They have green skin and yellow stripes, and a red stripe on each side of the head. They are omnivores, and must be submerged to eat. This one was about 10″ in diameter and was coming from the pond, and still had pond vegetation on its shell. Where was it going?

Red-eared Slider (Pseudemys elegans)

Common Blue Violet

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White violets

The violets parade has begun! These were the first I saw, a drift of white violets on the edge of the woods. There are a lot of violet varieties … it appears that this is Common Blue Violet which is a variable species that can occur as white or as in this case, white smudged with lavender. They are native.

Common Blue Violet (Viola sororia)

Purple Deadnettle

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Henbit

Very small, but with an exotic orchid-like form if you look closely. Called deadnettle because even though it looks like a nettle, it is not, and it doesn’t sting like a nettle. Apparently the flowers, leaves and stems are edible, raw, cooked or dried. Mint family. Native to Europe and Asia.

Purple Deadnettle, Red Deadnettle, Purple Archangel (Lamium purpureum)

Hairy Bittercress

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Hairy BittercressOne of the tiny first flowers to appear in spring. With one of the best names. An edible bitter herb native to Europe and Asia; in North America it’s considered an invasive weed. “Habitats with a history of disturbance are preferred.” (Well put, Illinoiswildflowers.com!) Mustard family.

Hairy Bittercress, Hoary Bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta)

Project Budburst

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ForsythiaColumbine budFrom AF Lorie, I heard about a citizen science enterprise called Project Budburst, which is loads of people picking a few plants to monitor, and inputting the data on their website to be compiled and charted. I picked forsythia and red columbine in my own yard (pictured), and the assignment is to note when they leaf, flower, etc., to help understand the effects of climate change. Phenology: the study of the timing of seasonal biological events like migration, mating, flowering, budburst.

About the Boston Marathon

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Brian in the 5K crowd2I just want to digress for a moment from wildflowers to the task of living in the world. Yesterday was the running of the Boston Marathon. The day before that, they held a 5 K race that loops around downtown Boston and everyone gets to cross the same finishline as the marathoners will cross the next day. B ran that 5K race and I took pictures. It was a beautiful morning and it was fun to be part of the huge crowd with their energy up and ready to run, and all their friends taking their pictures together. This second picture is of the finish line area, still getting set up before the race.BostonMarathonFinishline

Behind that line of flags is where someone detonated a bomb the next day, during the marathon, when that area was full of spectators. I was there myself, behind the flags, looking for a good view of the finishline… but it was Sunday, not Monday, so we walked away safely later that day and thought nothing of it. And the people in this picture are the kind of people that got blown up: young people, families, people taking pictures of their friends. I assume the bomber was there on Sunday, when I was there, planning where to distribute death, and could look at these people and somehow, he still carried out his plan.

Lesser Celandine

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Marsh marigold

Last year I misidentified these as Marsh Marigold. Now I have better resources, and I know that Marsh Marigolds don’t have this many petals. So based on the number of petals (8-12) and the heart-shaped variegated leaves, it’s Lesser Celandine (to distinguish from Celandine, a larger wild poppy). They follow the sun during the day and close in cloudy or cold weather. The name Celandine is derived from the Greek word for swallow (chelidon), because the early flowering time was also when the swallows arrived. (Last year we spotted these March 22… so… 3 weeks later this year.) Buttercup family.

Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria)