Wild Lily of the Valley
AKA: Canada Mayflower
Flowers and cleft leaf
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A berry nice wildflower
As the name implies this native wildflower Blooms in May. This year I found them in bloom on May 18th but didn’t manage to get a photo worth squat. Last year I managed to get this photo just in time on May 30th. Not the best flower photo but it does give you a clear look at the deeply cleft leaf. Canada Mayflower usually has 2 leaves but sometimes it may sport a third. Wild Lily of the Valley is widespread in St. Lawrence County, NY. There is a scattering of them in the woods along the Grasse river near Morley (Town of Canton) where I took last years flower photo. Along the Middle Branch of the Grasse River in the Town of Clare they’re far more prolific. It was at the Stillwater Club I found these ripening berries. |
Wild Lily of the Valley – Canada Mayflower
Maianthemum canadense
Ripening Berries
The ripening berries are mottled but turn a pale red when ripe. These berries are close.
…and now for something completely different
A yellow headed Virginia Ctenucha – Ctenucha virginica peaks out from behind a milkweed flower while a Coral Hairstreak – Satyrium titus (My best GUESS and I’m probably wrong) enjoys a sip of nectar.
Meet me at the Milkweed
SCARLET RED!
I’ve always had trouble getting a good photo of wild Cardinal Flowers. Sunlight combined with the intense red color of the flowers has always given any camera I’ve used a hard time. Getting a good macro shot can be even harder since the focal range is usually out of whack because the flower with it’s united stamens that form a tube extend just a bit too far to get the whole flower in focus.
A lone Cardinal Flower beckoned me each time I crossed the bridge at the Stillwater Club. I kept ignoring it because it meant going over the rail and climbing down the huge boulder holding up the middle of the bridge. At my age and in my condition that is not the brightest thing to do. It was better than getting swept off my feet trying to wade across to the island but not by much. With two days of hiking I had only spotted two plants and this was the ‘accessible’ one so I finally gave in and climbed down at dusk.
It was well worth the risk. This is probably my best photo of the flowers.
Looking for Cardinal Flowers?
Stone Valley in the Town of Colton is a hot spot. Just follow the Raquette River.
The banks of the Grasse River near Morley have some dotting the shoreline right now.
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July 21st, 2010 at 10:50 am
Great pic of the Mayflower fruit. We have those everywhere. Cardinal flower in bloom already? It’s an August plant here.
July 21st, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Hi,
Hope you are enjoying your summer(-:
The pictures are lovely today(-: The creek looks inviting…its been so hot here…Funny thing is we live near Stillwater Creek…it actually runs through our property(-: I have taken a lot of pictures of it in the past posts. It gets raging in the winter but during the summer its basically “still” (-: There are a lot of bullfrogs there though and ROCKS! I go all the time to collect them…
July 21st, 2010 at 9:18 pm
You really hit the jackpot with these pictures this time. Each one is great. I like the one with the bridge the most though. Bridges are definitely a thing of beauty to me.
July 24th, 2010 at 3:22 am
I have always wanted to see a Canadian mayflwer–in my part of eastern NY,
Schenectady, we called hepatica mayflowers. Here in Ohio the term is not uused consistently. My Maine cousins called the trailing arbutus “mayflower.”
But to get to the point–I recognize the berries from my childhood woods. So I must have missed the blooms.
Thanks for the great photos, as always.