Friday, May 04, 2007

Two Species of Dicentra on Williams River

I did notice a difference between these two Dicentras, but I assumed they were all dutchman's britches, perhaps at different stages of development. Last spring I happened to pay more attention to my field guide, and discovered the existence of squirrel corn. Both these photos are from the headwaters of the Williams River, in the Monongahela National forest, taken the same day, about a year ago. They're blooming again there this year, but the light hasn't been great for photographs.

Squirrel Corn in flower

Dicentra canadensis, Squirrel Corn

Dutchman's Britches in bloom

Dicentra cucullaria, Dutchman's Britches

2 comments:

Larry said...

Good observation there, Rebecca! Squirrel corn has been found in my Eastern Missouri county but I may well have seen it and dismissed it as just more Dutchman's Breeches. According to Steyermark's Flora of Missouri Squirrel Corn's flowers are fragrant while DB's flowers aren't.

Rebecca Clayton said...

I had my nose right down in the flora when I took these pictures, and didn't notice any fragrance. Of course, we were ramp-digging, so their odor may have been overwhelmed.