The Common or Field Buttercup-Handbook of Nature Study, pages 516-518
“The buttercups, bright-eyed and bold,
Held up their chalices of gold
To catch the sunshine and the dew.”
“Common buttercups and daisies are always associated in the minds of the children, because they grow in the same fields’ yet the two are so widely different in structure that they may reveal to the child something of the marvelous differences between common flowers; the buttercup is a single flower, while the single daisy is a large group of tiny flowers.”
This sounds like a great way to learn about some common flowers in the garden.
We have a spot that we hike to that has a whole hillside of buttercups.
We didn’t complete an in depth study this week but we did complete our observations and then a journal entry. I know you all must think that we spend oodles of time each week in nature study but in all honesty, some weeks we just *enjoy* getting outdoors without much preparation or follow-up.
I would rather we aim for making our outdoor time as regular as possible, have some focus to start off with, and leave things open and flexible if something happens to catch our attention.
Here is something we found on the trail that caught our eye this week. Butterflies!
I know this one is dead but it did give us an excellent opportunity to examine this creature up close.
The blue is iridescent in this swallowtail…so pretty.
This painted lady let me come very close and get a good photo. She was very busy sipping nectar from the wildflowers in this sunny spot alongside the trail.
We were watching these swallowtails for a very long time. I love to watch them flutter around in the sunshine as they gather their meal. Click to see this one better. 🙂
Our garden is coming alive with colors. I am not sure what we will study for next week yet.
Now is your chance to go outside and pick a flower to study from your yard. It does not have to be a buttercup but something that you can observe from your neighborhood. Pick your flower and then look it up in the Handbook of Nature Study.
I have been feeling sort of guilty about all the wildflower posts on this blog but after much deliberation, I came to the conclusion that recording things that are important to me is at the heart of why I keep a blog. My goal this spring has been to observe as many of the local wildflowers as I can and try to keep a record of when they started blooming and then identify them as I can with my field guide. This blog is part of my nature journal…a digital version of my paper journal.
In addition to recording my wildflowers on the blog, I have tried to keep current with our Wednesday Flower Study posts and the Outdoor Hour bird challenges. I slipped in a post about our great natural bridge hike last week and I have a backlog of posts to make about our other hikes.
Even though every post doesn’t exactly reference the Handbook of Nature Study, I still feel like I am staying “on topic” and helping to encourage other families to get outdoors and explore their own neighborhood. With the exception of the first photo of me taking photos of flowers, all the other photos are within a 25 minute driving distance from my house.
“It may not be practical for every family, but when mothers understand the good that a measure can do, they will often work miracles to provide it. A twenty minute trip with a picnic lunch can make a day in the country accessible to almost anyone, but why do it just one day? Why not do it lots of days? Or even every nice day?” Charlotte Mason in Modern English, volume one, page 44
So here are April 14th’s flowers from our regular hiking trail.
I have decided that yellow sunflower shaped flowers are really hard to identify. I need to start carrying my book with me on hikes and not relying on my photos to help make an identification.
This is something rather beautiful and we only have seen it one place in all our travels. I can’t find a identification for it but it sort of looks like Purple fritillary…not quite sure.
April 15th’s flowers from Cronan Ranch and the American River Confluence
(These are both new hikes to our family and we ended up going back to both places over the next few days to explore some more.)
Lupine. This is the year of lupine in our area. It is glorious and abundant everywhere you go. In a lot of places it is a mix of lupine and poppies and the blue and gold combination is stunning.
Lupines…right alongside the river. Yellow bush lupine and blue pod lupine.
Baby blue eyes
Back to the American River Confluence on 4/17/09
The plant and flower look like Miner’s lettuce but I have never seen the heart shaped buds before. Anyone know what this is?
We think these are Ground iris. We saw quite a few of them along the slope on the river side of the trail.
I think that is all of the outstanding new wildflowers that we observed and enjoyed over the last week’s hikes. I have a few more to share but I will post about those when I write about each individual hike.
I have developed a huge case of spring allergies. I have not been out for my usual walk in three days and I am getting antsy to break out and enjoy the spring. I am hoping that my allergy medicine kicks in soon and I can get out and explore some more of our local area.
We had the opportunity to take a drive to a new hiking spot. We live in a pretty special area of California and we can drive an hour or so and find the best adventures. We live in what people affectionately call Gold Country……our house is about 8 miles from where they discovered gold in California and the Gold Rush began.
This time though, we headed about fifty miles south of our house to a place in Calaveras County where there is a natural rock bridge over the river. This well-kept secret location was shared with me by a fellow homeschooler. I tried to Google it and came up with very vague directions but we were determined to try to find this spot.
We finally found the parking area for the trail and we filled the backpack up with water and a few snacks. Immediately I knew this was going to be a great wildflower hike because the first stretch bordered a little meadow with this view. Purple/blue flowers are Harvest brodiaea. (click to see the flowers better)
Here is the trail as it cuts across a fairly steep section of the hillside. The trail is the dirt path on the top right of the photo. Do you see my boys on the trail? They left us in the dust in a hurry to see the destination. We could hear the river rushing down below but instead of hurrying, my husband and I took our time and also a few photographs. Well, maybe a lot of photos!
It was a fairly easy three quarters of a mile hike down the hillside to the water and along the way it wound through buckeye, red bud, and oaks. On each sunny hillside, we found an abundance of wildflowers. Breathtaking beauty like this doesn’t come along everyday and we found ourselves marveling at the vivid colors of the flowers. It is at times like these that you feel impelled to stop and say a little prayer of thanks to our loving Creator….what a garden he has made for us to enjoy.
Once down to the bottom of the ravine, we found what we had come to see….the natural bridge which looked more like a cave or a tunnel.
The boys decided to wade out into the middle of the mouth of the tunnel and see if they could see the light at the other end. The water was really cold and they moved rather quickly through the shallow water.
It is nearly impossible to give you a really good idea of what the natural bridge is like but this photo shows you a little of the stalactite formations on the ceiling of the bridge. There was water raining down inside and in one area it looked like a cascading waterfall inside.
Here is a close-up of the ceiling showing the stalactite formations. All those lessons in geology paid off and we had some great conversation about how we think this bridge was formed. We talked about limestone and calcium carbonate and springs. We talked about erosion and ground water and water tables. We talked about the difference between stalactites and stalagmites.
We made plans to come back this summer with a headlamp and perhaps a little inflatable raft.
My husband and I had a very relaxing time at the river and the boys had fun exploring the limestone/marble pools and trying to jump across the watery stretches. They were already wet from wading in the tunnel so a little more water fun was okay by me.
Here is another pretty flower we found as we hiked back up the trail. I don’t know what it is called yet but I am going to keep on working on identifying it.
Here is one that was blooming along one whole section of the trail. Mustang clover.
Isn’t this the best photo? I love how it shows the shape of the plant growing. I am pretty sure this is Caterpillar scorpionweed….what a name!
This is a white variety of lupine growing at the parking spot.
Okay….this one makes me laugh. It is called Pineapple weed. The description says that this plant is not a native plant to California but I see it just about everywhere right now.
I know….how many wildflowers can I cram into this one post? Believe me, there are plenty more but they will have to wait for another time.
I hope you enjoyed viewing some glimpses into our day. I started this post on Monday….we have had some new adventures since this one and I can’t wait to share those too.
“The flowers of the bleeding heart are beautiful jewel-like pendants arranged along the stem according to their age; the mature flower, ready to shed its petals, is near the main stem, while the tiny unopened bud is hung at the very tip where new buds are constantly being formed during a long season of bloom.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 559
We chose the bleeding heart this week to take a closer look at during our afternoon outdoor time. We have one side of our house that is pretty much left in a wild state and it is full of bleeding hearts that bloom in the spring time. The mower comes close to this area but I have given strict orders that this particular stretch of the yard be left alone to do as it wishes.
We brought inside a vase full of flowers to examine up close just as the book suggested. Do you know what? We have never cut any of these flowers to bring indoors before this study. The other amazing thing is that we didn’t even know that they had a fragrance until we had the vase on the table and we were observing the flowers parts.
Once we pulled the petals back to look inside, the fragrance was almost overwhelmingly sweet….too sweet. My daughter thought they smelled like honey and I think that is a pretty accurate comparison.
The Handbook of Nature Study has a great explanation of the way this flower works and how the bees pollinate it by pushing apart the spoon-bowl shaped outer petals, pushing against the hinge works, then probing the nectar pitcher inside.
Here is the flower with the outer petals removed, exposing the inner petals and the heart shaped base of the stamen.
We would love to watch a bee gathering nectar so the next warm day we will be out and trying to catch that process happening.
Now you can pick your flower and join the Wednesday Flower Study. Choose a flower from your garden and look it up in the Handbook of Nature Study. Here is more information on how to get started. Join in during any week you have time. Wednesday Flower Study
Here is my original list and the flowers we are going to cover in our study.
Flowers Blooming Already or That We Can Study Right Now
Violet (page 476) Finished 3/18/09. Here is a LINK.
Buttercup (page 516)
Tulip (page 552) Finished 4/1/09. Here is a LINK.
California Poppy (page 531) Finished 4/8/09. Here is a LINK.
Petunias (page 581)
Mullein (page 537)
Dandelion (page 531) Finished 3/25/09. Here is a LINK.
Flowers that Will Study in Addition to Those Above
Bleeding Heart (page 558) Finished 4/15/09.
Bachelor’s Buttons (page 578)
Sweet Peas (page 588)
Queen Anne’s Lace (page 542)
We will be moving on to petunias next week. We have some really nice white and pink ones to study up close and to record in our nature journals.
Just another entry to share what is along the trail this week as we hike along……I have not captured them all but I am working diligently to document the majority of the flowers. It was a rainy day but when a break in the clouds came we struck out for a long walk in the woods.
Purple Chinese Houses are starting to bloom along the trail on the hilly sides and in the sun. My favorite….purple.
Here are some more Indian Pinks. These are one flower you can’t miss because of their brilliant color.
I did not get a good photo of this one but I will try again next time. This is blue larkspur.
This was an unidentified flower on a vine last week but now that I can see the fruit forming….I know what it is! Wild cucumber! I saw these at the Channel Islands National Park and we examined the dried fruits and seeds. I will be watching this one develop over the summer.
This yellow flower is blanketing the area right now. I am working on its identification.
Is this interesting or what? I was taking photos of some poppies and I noticed this unusual looking plant. Any ideas?
That is it for this entry. I am happy to report that we seem to be slowly identifying most of the wildflowers we find along the trail. This is a huge project but one that I am totally and completely enjoying and it doesn’t seem like work at all.
I found it surprising that the California poppy is covered in the Handbook of Naure Study since it is usually thought to be a book for the East Coast and not the West. I thought the information was really well done and the black line drawing of the poppy on page 564 was really perfect for helping us draw a poppy in our nature journal.
My earliest memories of poppies are when I was quite young and my aunt taught me that you could “tip their hats”.
“One of the most interesting performances to watch that I know is the way this poppy takes off its cap before it bows to the world. Like magic the cap loosens around the base; it is then pushed off by the welling, expanding petals until completely loosened, and finally it drops.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 563
These are really small poppies…the ones I remember as a child were much bigger but you get the idea.
This is such a silly little video but please envision me perched precariously on the side of the hill trying to hold the camera and to tip the cap at the same time. 🙂
I wish I could share with you how lovely these flowers are because my photos just do not do them justice. The hillsides and banks alongside our hiking trail are a blaze with poppies right now.
“….we can never understand its beauty until we see it glowing in masses on the California foothills.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 563
The orange glow of California Poppies really cheers me up and it reminds me that it really *is spring*!
“This is not nearly so pretty or so descriptive as the name given to this poppy by the Spanish settlers on the Pacific Coast, for they called it Copa-de-oro, cups of gold.”
“In California it should be studied in the spring, when the hills are covered with it. But the plant may be brought into the schoolroom, root and all, and placed in a jar, under which conditions it will continue to blossom.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 565
“The insects in California take advantage of the closing petals and often get a night’s lodging within them, where they are cozily housed with plenty of pollen for supper and breakfast; and they pay their bill in a strange way by carrying off as much of the golden meal as adheres to them, just as the man who weighs gold dust gets his pay from what adheres to the pan of his scales.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 565
I think I would like to sleep inside a poppy blossom…..all surrounded by soft orange petals.
One last very cool thing to share with you. Last week we took a different fork in our usual trail. The trail wound around a long ways and gave us hints of a view of the river below. We kept saying that we would go one more bend and one more turn before we decided to stop. Well, we did that for a good twenty-five minutes until we reached a dead-end. Guess what was there?
What is it?
It is an abandoned gold mine, pretty much filled up with water……I will save more photos for another entry. 🙂
We will be studying our Bleeding Hearts this week. Although the most striking flowers in our garden right now are the pear blossoms. They are so pretty and delicate.
Now it is your turn. Pick a flower from the Handbook of Nature Study or from your garden and make your own flower study. You do not need to pick poppies….pick something you have in your area. Here is the first entry in this series to explain more about Wednesday Flower Study day.
Here is a Gray Mule Ear blooming on a really sunny slope. We have been watching this particular plant for almost a month now and last night….we saw this cheerful bloom.
The whole sunny slope has come alive with wildflowers. The bees and butterflies are making an appearance as well. We actually saw a Tiger swallowtail this past week right in this flowering area. The white flower is popcorn flower.
This is Buck brush and it is now blooming all along the trail. It has a sweetish smell…it is a little too much for me and always reminds me that allergy time is upon us. This is not really a wildflower but rather a blooming bush.
This is what the bush looks like…this is sort of a scrawny one so I will try to get another photo of it the next time we walk.
This pinkish/purple flowered plant is lining the trail as well. It is along the edges of the path and it is really blooming right now. I don’t know what it is except that it is sort of shaped like clover but not really. Very pretty.
Definitely *not* a wildflower…..poison oak! It is very easy to spot right now because the new growth is bright red. We realize now just how much poison oak there is on this hike.
I am partial to purple wildflowers and this one (vetch) is decorating the hillsides right now….so pretty.
Lisa-Anne at the Berry Patch is hosting a “Spring Where You Are” photo challenge. She asked if I would share one of my spring wildflower posts……always willing to oblige a photo challenge. 🙂
My wildflower field guide has been mighty busy lately. I am using the National Audubon Society Field Guide to Wildflowers along with two other more specialized guides to my region. The Audubon book has color photos and is much easier to use than the others but they all have helped me with identifying various things over the last few weeks. I mention the guides because I have had some families asking me what particular field guides I am using.
I start off with the Audubon which is organized by color and shape of the flower. If I find the flower then I usually confirm by looking it up on Google images and then following the links to read more about the flower. I will then pull out my Handbook of Nature Study to see if that flower is included in that book.
The boys are learning quickly how to use a field guide and they help me with seeing details that I might miss when we are observing a flower.
This batch of flowers is rather large. As the weeks go by, the number of flowers blooming is increasing tenfold. We also took a new fork in the trail and found some new plants and flowers to observe.
We came across some really large miner’s lettuce along the trail. Now that would make a great salad! I have tried eating a long time ago at summer camp and it is much like the texture of spinach and it doesn’t have the bitter taste that so many other wild greens have that I have eaten. My dad has a patch at his house and I just may pick some and try it again with the family.
New to us and very excited that I found an identification for it…..hairy lacepod or fringed pod which is an annual herb. This one was not in the wildflower field guide. I did learn that it is in the mustard family.
This is vetch that is really blooming all over the place right now. If you click on this photo, you will see some ants at the top of the plant. I am not sure what they are doing but it made for an interesting photo.
Here is another new one from today’s hike. Fringed Indian pink or California Indian Pink…even though it is bright red. This is what I had in the last post and it was just a bud. Now you can see what a great flower it is. This is really the only one we saw blooming so far so we look forward to seeing it along the trail more in the next few weeks.
Here is another shot of the mystery plant from the last post. It is amazingly interesting to examine. I did some research and found something very similar and it was called crane’s bill but the size of this plant is way too big. I have narrowed it down to being something in the geranium family so if you have any ideas…please leave a comment.
As a sidenote, I found this explanation of the purpose of the pointy things on the plant. The bottom of the spike is where the seeds are and the spike helps spread the seeds when it is time. Here is how one very non-technical person explained it….I love the explanation even if it is in layman’s terms:
“The “cranesbill” for which the plants are named describes the shape of the spikes extending from the fruiting bodies left behind when flowers fade. The seeds are formed in the puffy part at the bottom of the fruiting body. The problem is that the whole assembly was manufactured to serve as a catapult – when ripe, the seeds are flung out of their dry hull using the spring force of connective tissue that runs along the spikey bit (this is not a botanically correct description, by the way).”
This flower is just starting to bloom on the trail side. Miniature lupine. In real life, it is more purple but my little camera has a tendency to turn purple things blue. I will take more photos of this as it starts to bloom more.
Here is a really interesting grass. I have spent some time looking through plant and wildflower books lately and I have become interested in how many different kinds of native grasses there are in our area. This one caught my eye and we spent some time examining it up close.
Another mystery flower for today. this one is growing on a vine in a shady spot alongside the trail. What would my wildflower posts be if they didn’t include a “mystery flower”?
Edit 4/8/09: This is the flower of a wild cucumber. We saw the fruits starting to form and that made it much easier to identify.
Anyway, that is it for this batch of spring wildflowers. I already have a few more lined up for next time.
Here is the latest post in my quest to identify all the wildflowers that bloom along our hiking trail…little did I know how hard it would be. 🙂
Sigh. So pretty.
This flower is starting to bloom on the hillside on our daily hiking trail. Sunny spots and open areas are popping up with these delicate lavender colored flowers.
I have scoured our field guides but with no success.
I see it in many spots in our county so I know it is something native. These photos were taken the first day I observed it and now it has four parts blooming on the end of the stem. The leaves are thin and pointed and close to the ground.
Another surprise flower that will be blooming soon. I don’t have any idea what it is so it will be a wonderful gift to see what is in store with this flower.
Edit: I now know this is a California Indian Pink.
Wow! Look at those pointy things on this plant! Here is another photo.
See the purple flowers there….those are on the ends of the pointy parts. (The white flowers are something else.) I feel so humbled by all the flowers and plants that I have never learned about before. What an amazing Creator we have that has all these interesting things for us to learn about.
Now, I know this is not a wildflower but this insect came flying by as I was taking photos and it startled me. It was really big and what an interesting shape.
The body looks like a yellow brain and the wings were really long with a green spot on the edge. Anyone have any idea what it is?
Edit: My hubby and I spent a few minutes with our field guide and then Google images and we identified this insect: Green Stigma Hangingfly.
This flower is blooming *everywhere* alongside the trail. So delicate and pretty and I love the color of this one. Still working on identifying it though.
This week we studied the dandelion. This cheerful flower/weed is found all over our yard and our neighbor has a whole crop of dandelions for us to study.
Here are some interesting facts we found out about the dandelion.
*In the sunflower family-No wonder I think they are happy little flowers.
*Grows from 2″ to 20″ tall.
*It has a hollow stalk.
*Common name comes from “dent de lion” which is French for “lion’s tooth”, referring to the teeth on the leaves.
*The flowers open and close.
You must read the introductory pages to the dandelion study starting on page 531 of the Handbook of Nature Study. Anna Botsford Comstock writes in such a narrative style that you will enjoy reading the information and I am sure you will remember much of it to share with your children.
“Professor Baily once said that dandelions in his lawn were a great trouble to him until he learned to love them, and then the sight of them gave him keenest pleasure.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 531
I couldn’t agree more. I always hate it when my neighbors use the weed eater to remove the thousands of dandelions from their property. I would much rather look at the cheerful yellow flowers than a bare piece of ground.
The Handbook of Nature Study has a great list of activities in the lesson for the dandelion.
Here are a few that we complete:
3. Sketch or describe a dandelion leaf.
4. Take a blossom not yet open. Note the bracts that cover the unopened flower head.
7. Note what hour the dandelions on the lawn close and at what hour they open on pleasant days.
We were able to work on all three of these ideas in our study today.
Here are the bracts covering the petals before the bloom opens.
Really short dandelion that practically is blooming flat on the ground…interesting how some are tall and some are not.
You can really see the “lion’s teeth” in this photo. 🙂
Another garden flower/weed is now recorded in our nature journals.
I think next week we will work on the tulips in our yard that are just starting to really bloom.
