nature most fluid

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One of the things I learned in my botany classes at UT: species names and even their dividing lines are ever so fluid, especially among plants. And my Peterson's Field Guide is from 1968. After Rikki Hall's comment yesterday, I visited Dr. Wofford's UT Herbarium's website. (A marvelous resource!)

Indeed, Dr. Wofford only lists two species of Corydalis in Tennessee. The one we have in bloom at Ijams Nature Center is C. flavula; C. sempervirens is listed as endangered in the state.

Thanks, Rikki.

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crested corydalis

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It's hard not to notice the spring ephemerals, they're popping up daily. And then they're gone. POP! POOF! The bloodroot I blogged last week is already past flower.

Another yellow wildflower is blooming. This one is a bit challenging to ID. You can tell by the leaves that it's related to squirrel corn and Dutchman's breeches, but the flowers are much smaller and yellow.

According to my Peterson's Wildflower Field Guide (Roger Tory co-authored with Margaret McKenny. He did the illustrations.) there are three species of corydalis: C. flavula, C. aurea and C. micrantha. The differences are in the shape of the small flowers themselves. C. flavula (yellow corydalis) has a toothed crest on the upper petal; C. aurea (golden corydalis) does not; and C. micrantha (slender corydalis) has a straight or upturned spur, slight crest, no teeth.

Got that?

Any who. The one in the photo, the one growing along the North Cove Trail at Ijams, is yellow corydalis. It has a toothed crest.

Now you know in case it turns up on Alex Trebek's Jeopardy! under the heading "Almost Totally Too Much Information" for $1,000.

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