What happens to the time?

Spring has sprung in Ohio and it's time to start some fieldwork after a busy semester. I'll be starting my work in the southeastern states this year. I've neglected the penstemons east of the Mississippi for far too long. Here are a few glimpses of wildflowers in bloom this week in Ohio (plus a moss sporocarp portrait).  All of these photos were made at Clear Creeks Metro Park.

Fire pink (Silene virginica) - a beautiful red flower that catches one's eye in the forest.

Conopholis americana (squawroot) - a holoparasitic plant in the family Orobanchaceae. This is related to Hyobanche - the holoparrasite I study in South Africa. Conopholis is a root parasite that obtains all of its food, water, and minerals from its host plant - oak.

Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)

Polytrichum ohioense - sporocarps.