partridge berry

here is mitchella repens of the family rubiaceae:

this little plant is native to the United States and can be found from Hudson Bay to Texas and all along the eastern seaboard. this particular bloom was happened upon along South Lake at Mule Jail, in April of '07. not much to be said about this flower, other than it is pretty. i'm sure there are a few people that could say a lot more about it, but i am not counted among them.

tiny bluet

these are houstonia pusilla of the family rubiaceae:

this tiny plant is native to North America. this picture was taken in Brandon, Mississippi in mid april.

bluet

here is houstonia pusilla of the family rubiaceae:

this is a proper winter bloom, according to Dukes, this flower should begin to show up in february lasting through june. i have seen this little flower just about every where, it is small, but the brilliance of the flower is hard to miss, especially now with the ground still mostly brown and dormant. h. pusilla stands no more than 4 inches off the ground and can show up solo or in bunches.

stickywilly

this is galium aparine of the family rubiaceae.


this is another spring plant that has been tricked into blooming early this year. according to the USDA site this is a springtime annual, meant to bloom mid spring.

for those of you reading this, like my self, are quite ignorant of the exact definitions of many of the terms in botany and gardening, an annual is a plant that "grow, bloom, set seed and die" in a single growing season. a biannual is a plant that carries this process over two growing seasons.

virginia buttonweed

here is an example of diodia virginiana, of the family rubiaceae.


this is a ground creeper that is quite common near road sides and along fences where yards are not as well kept. at times there are a lot of flowers, on a given plant, at times few. the flower is small, between a half centimeter to a centimeter across, but being white, this flower stands out, making buttonweed fairly noticeable. an individual plant can be quite large, extending radially from a common root. the leaves are spindle-shaped