Rare wildflower, Alum Creek State Park, Ohio

We find a wildflower that is listed as Potentially Threatened in Ohio.

Forkleaf toothwort (Cardamine dissecta) blooming

This dandy little flower has been found in seven Ohio counties since 1980 including Delaware County where this cluster was found April 14. Several thousand stems form about a dozen patches between Alum Creek Reservoir and Africa Road, and on the east side of Africa Road, too.

Early flowering downy serviceberry (Amalanchier arborea) is fairly common along Alum Creek, coloring the edge of shale bluffs with soft white petals.

Showy wildflowers occur where sunshine warms the ground under bare branches of winter-gray trees reaching into blue sky. Their showy displays are seen from far away, then. The cast of wildflower characters is ephemeral, diverse, and beautiful every spring, rivaling sunny summer prairies.

Another early flower coming on strong, littleleaf buttercup (Ranunculus abortivus)

A bug's-eye view of Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica)