Snow Trilliums!

Fish, Fungi, and more...

Spring is here! Snow Trilliums are popping up at Cedar Bluffs!

The snow trillium is an herbaceous, long-lived, woodland, perennial wildflower with a limited distribution in the Midwestern states of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio with outlier occurrences in South Dakota, Nebraska, Michigan, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Snow trillium is truly a harbinger of spring with occasional late winter appearances in March while snow is still on the ground. Snow trillium is never common and can be very rare often with local occurrences in many parts of its range. Within some of these local occurrences very large, dense populations do occur.

I’ve been walking Cedar Bluffs for 20 years or so, and I always first find Snow Trilliams on the Northern and North-eastern facing bluffs. And they are in dense populations.

---

The species is listed as endangered in half the states in which it is found. Diane Porter, at the wonderful “My Gaia,” found them last week in Jefferson County, Iowa.

---

Annie, Johanna, and Jonah joined Violet the Dog and me on a walk on Sunday, and it was chilly and sprinkling rain.

---

We think these are Hepatica.

Hepatica (Hepatica americana) is often the first flower to appear in Iowa woodlands. The flowers are purplish white and rarely rise more than six inches from the woodland floor. The plant gets its name, which means “affecting the liver,” from the color and shape of the leaves as they persist throughout fall and winter. Hepatica is a member of the buttercup family, characterized by having many petals, stamens, and pistils. The flowers begin blooming as early as March and may continue blooming throughout the spring months

---

Regular readers know that I am interested in the artifacts that are curated at Cedar Bluffs. One day I spotted this nice walking stick leaning against a bench on the overlook. It stayed there for a few days, and then it appeared it was dropped on the deck. It stayed there for a couple of days and then poof, it was gone.

---

Jonah found this very interesting dead tree trunk, suspended from another tree, with its base apparently rotted at the bottom. The tree is blowing in the wind while rising and falling.

---

Anyone who can ID any of the above, please share in the comments.

---

The past couple of days have been much nicer than Sunday!

---

Look at these fish in the stream! Waterbugs too! My angler friends Chris Jones and Steve Semken took a look at this video, and think that these are some Largemouth Bass, some Chubs, and Flathead Minnows.

---

Thanks for reading! Here are four of my favorite nature Substacks: Larry Stone’s “Listening to the Land,” Diane Porter’s My Gaia, Al Batt’s Al’s Substack, and Jaron Sedlock’s Jaron’s Curious Adventures. Please consider subscribing. All will entertain, educate, and soothe your soul.

I’m a member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. Please sample the talents of my fellow collaborative members. If you can afford to be a paid subscriber, that would be great. If not, the vast majority of content is free.