Great White Trillia blooming along the Trillium Trail in Fox Chapel.
For a description of the species, see the Trillium grandiflorum reference page.
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Great White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)
Photographed April 27. 
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Various Shades of Common Blue Violet (Viola sororia)
Photographed April 29. Common Blue Violets normally bloom in a narrow range of shades from deep violet to deep purple. We do, however, sometimes find flowers in a range of shades from pale lavender to pure white, as well as flowers with white flecks. Most of these flowers were blooming in a lawn in Highland Park among a large population of the regulation violet-colored violets.
Photograohed May 2. This one was blooming near Saw Mill Run in Seldom Seen.
It is possible that some of these plants are other closely related species, or even hybrids. Botanists themselves have trouble sorting violets: Viola papilionacea, for example, was commonly regarded as a separate species from V. sororia (though Gray said that V. sororia “passes into” V. papilionacea) but is now subsumed by its sister, which is called “sororia” (“sisterly”) precisely because it looks so much like some other species in the genus. In addition, Fernald’s revision of Gray’s Manual of Botany lists eleven other species with which Viola sororia hybridizes. At that point, Father Pitt gives up and simply says these are probably the same species, but corrections from botanists with better eyes are welcome.
For a description of the species, see the Viola sororia reference page.
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Broadleaf Toothwort (Cardamine diphylla)
Photographed April 27. Also known as Crinkleroot. A close relative of the Cutleaf Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata), but easily distinguished by its pair of broad leaves with three leaflets. These plants were blooming along the Trillium Trail in Fox Chapel.
For a description, see the Cardamine diphylla reference page.
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Cream Violet (Viola striata)
Photographed April 27. Violets are difficult to sort out, and this species is similar to the Canada Violet (V. canadensis), also fairly common in our area. Note, however, the rounded leaves with rounded teeth, the long spur of the flower, and the almost complete lack of yellow at the bases of the petals; these things persuade us that this is V. striata. Corrections, however, are always received with gratitude. These plants were blooming abundantly along the Trillium Trail in Fox Chapel.
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Blue Phlox (Phlox divaricata)
Photographed April 27. Although blue is the canonical color of Blue Phlox or Woodland Phlox, it occurs in shades from pure white to purple. Here we have blue, white, and lavender forms, all growing along the Trillium Trail in Fox Chapel.
For a full description, see the Phlox divaricata reference page.
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