Fothergilla

Fothergilla species are in bloom right now, and my guess is that the ones below, blooming in Teardrop Park, are Fothergilla x gardenii, as that's the smaller, dwarf species.


Any type of Fothergilla is pretty cool though, due to the unusual flowers. The white spikes are the stamens and there are no petals on the flowers whatsoever.



Fothergilla is native to the southeast United States, is relatively deer resistant and has very few diseases. I have also seen it in Union Square and Tompkins Square Parks, so that demonstrates the plant's fortitude.


It is in the Hamamelidaceae family, and is thus cousins with witch hazel. It would be easy to guess this as the leaves on Fothergilla have that same distinctive spatula-shape, only smaller.

Erythronium

Here's a shot of Erythronium grandiflora, or glacier lily, growing in Jefferson Market. This is a new plant for me. I noticed it growing in the southeast corner of the park


Erythronium is a Liliacaea family bulb, native to North America, particularly in the low lands of the Rockies and Sierra Nevadas. This is also why it has the other common name of yellow avalanche lily.



Erythronium grandiflorum shares the genus name with about twenty other species, with common names such as trout lily, E. americanum (due to the fishlike, speckled leaves) and dogtooth violet, E. dens-canis (due to the tooth-shape of the bulb).

Albert's Garden

I have been walking past this tiny community garden on 2nd street quite a bit lately and finally stopped to take a photo yesterday morning.

I was struck by the ragged beauty of this redbud.


The rest of the modest garden is lovely, with a huge mass of bleeding heart in the very background. Forget the tulips and cherry trees, a booming redbud and Dicentra spectabilis is incontrovertible evidence that spring is, finally, upon us.

Pinxterbloom Azalea

The photos of this lovely plant were recently sent to me by a reader. This plant's common and scientific name are both mouthfuls: Pinxterbloom Azalea, or Rhododendron periclymenoides.


With such great, multisyllabic words like that, I think we can keep this post simply to etymology.

Rhododendron, in Greek, literally means rose-tree (rhodo: rose; dendron: tree). Periclymenoides means 'looks like periclymen.' -Oides is always a great clue in nomenclature; it means 'looks like.' But this is only helpful if one knows what periclymen means. That's a species name for a honeysuckle, Lonicera periclymen. This rhodi looks like that honeysuckle. Both have flowers that change in color as they age, and that's the reason they are given this species name. Periklymenon was a Greek argonaut who was also a shapeshifter.

Okay, so that settles the scientific name. But why a clumsy word like pinxterbloom? Pinxter is Dutch for Pentecost and this plant has the common name as it blooms during the liturgical holiday. The word azalea is from the Greek azaleos, which refers to the ability of this plant to withstand dry climates.