BREAKING NEWS!
Stay-at-homers, safety first! The staff of Nature Calling is here to let you know what’s going on outside in the Tennessee Valley.
"It’s a wildflower wonderland!" Emailed Lynne Davis. Look at the above photo. "We saw at least five species of trillium, including this group of red and white nodding varieties, with a white-faded-to-pink one, too."
And remember this: every time you see a trillium in bloom, thank an ant, because it planted the beloved ephemeral wildflower where it is growing.
And remember this: every time you see a trillium in bloom, thank an ant, because it planted the beloved ephemeral wildflower where it is growing.
Trillium are apply named. The word comes from the Latin "tres" which means three. And even though we have around twelve different kinds of trillium growing in our Southern Mountains, they nearly always arrange their body parts in increments of that number: three leaves, three green sepals and three petals on the flower itself.
The varying scents of the different species are to attract the insect pollinators: usually beetles and flies. But in one of the most curious relationships found in nature, trilliums rely on ants to "spread their seeds." By mid-summer, the plants are dying back and the sticky seeds fall out of the drying capsules that nurtured them. Each seed has a light-colored crest called a "strophiole." Ants are irresistibly drawn to these crests. They pick them up and carry them back to their underground nests. There they eat the treasured strophioles and discard the seed somewhere around their home, thus planting it.
Today, our news-desk has heard from wildflower aficionados Lynne and Bob Davis. Normally at this time of the year they would be leading groups on wildflower walks. That’s normally. But things are not normal.
Here are photos Lynne just sent of some what they found on a quiet hillside nearby. There were several species of trillium and a whole lot more.
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The varying scents of the different species are to attract the insect pollinators: usually beetles and flies. But in one of the most curious relationships found in nature, trilliums rely on ants to "spread their seeds." By mid-summer, the plants are dying back and the sticky seeds fall out of the drying capsules that nurtured them. Each seed has a light-colored crest called a "strophiole." Ants are irresistibly drawn to these crests. They pick them up and carry them back to their underground nests. There they eat the treasured strophioles and discard the seed somewhere around their home, thus planting it.
Today, our news-desk has heard from wildflower aficionados Lynne and Bob Davis. Normally at this time of the year they would be leading groups on wildflower walks. That’s normally. But things are not normal.
Here are photos Lynne just sent of some what they found on a quiet hillside nearby. There were several species of trillium and a whole lot more.
Od-la-de, ob-la-da.
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| Wild geranium |
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| Celandine poppy |
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| Larkspur |
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| Virginia bluebells |
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| Woodland phlox |
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| Foamflower |
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