Like the return of migrant birds, the flowering of native plants in spring reassures me that the circle of life is going to keep on rolling. In this post I look at ten flowers of May in the Pacific Northwest.
Rubus Genus
As the reddish flowers fade on the Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) and Red-flowering Currant (Rubus sanguineum), the white flowers begin to bloom on the Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus) and Trailing Blackberry (Rubus ursinus).
Since ambient temperature influences flowering dates, the timing varies more from year to year than the sequence.Thimbleberry begins to flower as the Salmonberry winds down.White Flower of ThimbleberryWhite Flower of Trailing BlackberryThimbleberry, Fringecup, and Bleeding Heart
Saxifrage Family
In May, two common saxifrages of Puget Lowland forests, both Fragrant Fringecup (Tellima grandiflora) and Youth-on-Age (Tolmiea menziesii) display small flowers on upright stalks.
Youth-on-Age is notable for the “piggy-back” clones that emerge from the base of leaves. Flowers of the Youth-on-AgeI think the name “Fringecup” refers to the appearance of the individual flowers. What Fringecup lacks in visual beauty, it makes up for with the wonderful fragrance of its flowers.
Maianthemum Genus
The genus name Maianthemum comes from the Greek maios anthemon meaning May flower.
False Lily of the Valley (Miainthemum dilatatum) ranges all the way from California to the Aleutian Islands and from the Kamchatka Peninsula south through Korea and Japan.Most of the ground cover in this photo is False Lily of the Valley.False Solomon’s Seal (Miainthemum racemosum) ranges across almost all of North America.False Solomon’s Seal is a clumsy name for such a beautiful plant, but Treacleberry and Scurvyberry are not much better.I find it ironic that the flowers of the Miainthemum racemosum are in panicles, not racemes.
Four More May Flowers
Though it appears delicate, the Western Starflower (Lysimachia latifolia) is actually fairly robust, spreading by seed as well as by rhizome.
Western Starflower spreads surprisingly quickly in areas kept clear of Ivy and other invasive ground covers.In spots where Western Starflower emerges from a thick duff, it has presumably spread by rhizomes.Pojar and Mackinnon attribute the common name to the way in which the thinness of the flower stalks makes the blossoms appear to be “hanging in the air like tiny woodland stars.”
The widespread Large-leaved Avens (Geum macrophyllum) grows abundantly in the Puget Lowlands.
Large-Leaved Avens and Fragrant FringecupLarge Leaved Avens is one of the few native flowers in the Puget Lowlands with yellow blossoms.
Like False Lily of the Valley, Western Sweet Cicely (Osmorhiza occidentalis) can spread rampantly in its preferred habitats.
In May, the Western Sweet Cicely has lovely foliage.The flowers of Western Sweet Cicely are almost too small to see without a lens.
An essay on the flowers of May would not be complete without a nod to Western Trillium (Trillium ovatum).
