Sunday, April 12, 2009

Spring Beauty and Prairie Trillium


The flower is spring beauty (Claytonia virginica). The 3-leafed plants are prairie trillium (Trillium recurvatum). The trillium flowers haven't opened yet. These are two of the commonest spring wildflowers of the Indiana woodlands. Look closely at one of the spring beauty leaves and you see a rust-colored patch. This is Claytonia rust fungus (Puccinia mariae-wilsoniae). Like the other kinds of rust fungus, it will only survive on a certain kind of plant, and Claytonia rust will only live on Claytonia and none other. All things in the web of life depend on each other.

Link to Claytonia rust

Link to spring beauty

Link to prairie trillium


This picture was taken April 9, 2009, in Scifres-Maier Woods, part of Celery Bog Park.
Link to Scifres-Maier Woods

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