Caltha palustris: flowers

Caltha palustris, known in English as "marsh marigold" or "kingcup", and in French as caltha de marais, souci d'eau, souci de marais, or populage de marais, is a perennial native to temperate regions of the northern hemisphere.

It's been decades since I've seen marsh marigold in real life. I was thrilled to see these gorgeous flowers at Wilket Creek Park.

Alliara petiolata: flower buds

This is an extremely invasive species in Toronto. Although I just posted a whole long thing about why garlic mustard is evil, I haven't posted a picture of the flower buds. I was disheartened to see it's that time of year again already. Photo taken at Wilket Creek Park.

May flowers!

I've just returned from a pilgrimage to Wilket Creek Park with over 40 photos which will eventually make their way into the blog, time permitting. It's too gorgeous outside to waste time blogging now. Currently in bloom: white trillium, barren strawberry (don't know what it is yet), marsh marigold, Virginia bluebells... The trout lilies weren't fully open, though maybe that's because it was cloudy today. In any case, don't waste such beautiful weather indoors reading blogs about flowers when you could be outside seeing the real thing!

Podophyllum peltatum: foliage

Podophyllum peltatum, known in English as "mayapple", "hogapple", "umbrella plant", "wild lemon", "wild mandrake", "American mandrake" or "devil's apple", and in French as pomme de mai, is a perennial native to eastern North America. To me, the big umbrella-shaped leaves have an intriguing tropical look.

I photographed these plants in Wilket Creek Park.

Equisetum arvense

Equisetum arvense, known in English as "field horsetail" or "common horsetail" and in Frence as prêle des champs, queue de rat, queue de renard or queue de cheval, is a perennial native to much of North America. The horsetails have been around a very very long time; in fact, they have been growing on earth for 200 million years, well before the time of the dinosaurs. If you click on the photo to enlarge, you can see the two types of stalks. The brown stalks with light coloured bumpy things at the top produce spores; the feathery green stalks are sterile.

Equisetum arvense likes to grow in moist areas. I photographed these plants in Wilket Creek Park.