The Colorful Woods of Late Spring

[Heads up: There's a picture of a sweet little ring-necked snake at the bottom. You've been warned]

Welcome to the latest entry in my "Year in the Woods" series, where I document all the native plants I can find in our woods in one year.

The woods often seem to be cloaked in rather dull shades of green and brown. However this time of year, if you are willing to look close, you will find lots of bright colors.

Yes, we have a cactus in North Carolina, Prickley Pear (Opuntia humifusa). It is stunning in bloom.

Whorled loosestrife (Lysimachia quadrifolia) produces a tiny little blossom, but so intricate.

This one has a not so interesting blossom, although the large leaves stand out among the vegetation on the forest floor. It is Wild Quinine, Parthenium integrifolium.

This sweet little blossom is found on rocky outcroppings in full sun. It seems to only bloom during certain times of the day. It's called Talinum teretifolium

This I believe to be Fire Pink, Silene virginica. Stumbling upon it's cheerful blossoms will brighten your day.

[UPDATE 6/7/2015: This is Indianhemp, Apocynum cannabinum. But the leaves and flowers look similar to milkweed, plus it has milky sap]. This is some type of milkweed (Asclepias), species unknown.We have three other species of milkweeds that bloom a bit later and they are lovely, so stay tuned.

I'm breaking the rules by including this daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare), since it is naturalized, not native. Many introduced plants have negative effects on our ecosystem ranging from nuisance to catastrophic. Perhaps this one is more innocuous. Pretty, in any case. 

Dragonflies are just darn cool.

I'm just beginning to dip my toes into the fascinating world of bird identification. This is a summer tanager.

Here's the first box turtle of the year. Box turtles are under threat. If you see one crossing the road and can safely assist, simply carry it to the other side. Don't relocate it or take it back to the side it came from. Here's more information: http://carolinaboxturtles.com/hazards/highway/



Finally, here's that cute little ring-necked snake. 

To see additional posts in this series, click the "yearinthewoods" label in the left column.

Here's a description of my wildflower "hunting" techniques and the references I use to identify them:
http://timberwalkers.blogspot.com/2015/05/how-to-find-native-wildflowers-and.html

Here's a description of how I take photos:
http://timberwalkers.blogspot.com/2013/07/how-to-take-half-decent-photos-of.html