Hepatica
Last weekend, the bloodroot started blooming, along with squirrel corn, the first Mertensia bluebells, and this hepatica:
There was also a beautiful miniature trillium blooming. I’ll save that for another post…
Nature Diary
Notes from the field, essays, and observations.
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Nature Diary 
I like the contrasting colors and the diagonal placement of the two flowers.
Thanks, Steve. There were so many flowers last weekend – and yesterday we had 3 inches of snow.
That’s more liquid to make your flowers grow.
After they recover from the temps in the mid-30s! Brr.
The first thing that came to mind was Sal Hepatica — a very, very old remedy for what ails you. I think I remember it from my grandparents’ medicine chest. Eventually, I found the connection. The shape of the three-lobed leaf was supposed to look like a human liver, so of course imaginative herbalists put it to work. I’ll stick with a dose of these pretty flowers. You know: take two Hepatica and call me in the morning!
This is round-lobed hepatica, the one with leaves shaped like the organ. I’ll take hepatica anytime!