NYC Wildflower Week

Is well underway. There are events until Sunday in all the boroughs. Some of the things you might see include the following, which are blooming now:
Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana).Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum). Celandine Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum). And, in the hiding the light under the bushel department, the Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum). This lovely white flower grows underneath its two deeply cleft leaves. Plants without flowers have a single leaf. And speaking of hidden: the unusual flower of Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense), which grows at the base of the heart-shaped leaves, down in the leaf-litter. Both Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide and Gracie’s Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast call this odd flower “curious.”

There are alternative names, long cultural histories, and much else associated with these ephemeral flowers, which you should look up. Meanwhile, don’t pick, trample, pee on, or otherwise troll these fragile blossoms. It takes a lot of maintenance to keep these things growing in the face of feet, paws, invasives, tires, ATVs, and all the assaults urban parks are subject to. There is a terrible irony in the fact that the natural habitats of our region must be protected from… us. These blooms were all seen in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

(Thanks to Sarah and Chris for helping with identifications.)