Here are two flowers that couldn’t be more different but they have the same common name: Goat’s Beard.

The Goat’s Beard flower above is Tragopogon dubius, introduced from Eurasia and named for its huge fluffy seed head.  It loves full sun and thrives in poor, disturbed soil so I often see it in former waste places planted with wildflower seed mix.  The flower above was at Lower Nine Mile Run on June 1.

The Goat’s Beard below, Aruncus dioicus, is a native of North America named for its fluffy male flowers. Four to six feet tall, it requires moist rich soil so I usually find it in the forest where a splash of sun breaks through.  Dianne Machesney found this one last week.

The flower in her photo doesn’t look very fluffy.  Here’s a possible explanation.

Aruncus dioicus is dioecius — some plants are male, others female.  The male flowers are the showy ones. This showy flower from Wikimedia Commons may be male.

Be careful if you tell a butterfly enthusiast that you’ve found Goat’s Beard.  The yellow-flowered Eurasian species is nothing to get excited about but Aruncus dioicus is the host plant for the rare Dusky Azure butterfly (Celastrina nigra).

Two “Goat’s Beards.”  Perhaps even more.

(photo credits:
yellow Goat’s Beard flower by Kate St. John
white Goat’s Beard flower by Dianne Machesney
fluffy white Goat’s Beard flower from Wikimedia Commons; click on the image to see the original)

While Eurasian lilies-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) are blooming in my garden, these “false lilies of the valley” are blooming in the Laurel Highlands.

Maianthemum canadense are woodland plants that range from the Yukon to Newfoundland to northern Pennsylvania and in the Appalachian Mountains to Georgia. Their preference for cooler temperatures makes them abundant in Canada and they bloom in late May, hence their common name: Canada mayflower.

When you find a patch of Canada mayflowers you’ve found a single organism that spread through its rhizomes.  The flowers do produce a few berries but the plant’s most successful propagation is underground.

Lilies-of-the-valley spread underground, too, and have taken over half my garden.  The difference between the two is that lilies-of-the-valley are poisonous to wildlife while Canada mayflowers are not.

Watch for them blooming this month in southwestern Pennsylvania. It’s Mayflower time.

(photo by Dianne Machesney)

A group of us went to Cedar Creek Park in Westmoreland County last Wednesday, April 11, to look for birds and blooms.  Our highlights were six Louisiana waterthrushes and the largest spread of snow trillium we’d ever seen.

The morning was cold and cloudy so the bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) was still closed when we arrived. By the time we left it was fully open (above).

We were surprised to find snow trillium (Trillium nivale) at its peak in mid April.  This flower usually blooms in February or March but cold weather must have held it back. So many blooms!

While we lingered near the snow trillium I noticed the smell of burning coal.  The site is far from any source so I wondered where the smell came from.

Later I learned that there are many abandoned coal mines in Rostraver Township and there’s a history of abandoned mine and waste pile fires.

Did I smell an old mine fire still burning?  Has a new fire just begun?  Do any of you know the answer?

(photos by Kate St. John)

p.s. Blooming News:  I visited Raccoon Creek Wildflower Reserve on Friday April 13 where I found the flowers far behind Core Arboretum and even behind Cedar Creek.  Yes, spring has been slow to come — and it’s trying to leave again.  This phenology map from NPN shows our delayed spring in blue.