On Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020,
Thomas Armstrong made this amazing find,
Claytonia virginica forma lutea, Yellow Spring Beauty, in Readington Township, NJ.
Previous sightings have been in Pennsylvannia and Maryland
Photo credit: Thomas Armstrong, 4/12/2020
The flowers usually start blooming from the bottom. This photo shows an open flower, a flower that just closed up, a flower that has gone to fruit formation, and a bunch of buds.
Photo credit: Thomas Armstrong, 4/14/2020
Photo credit: Thomas Armstrong, 4/16/2020
Thomas was very nice to share the location with several folks so we could share the excitement of the find.
Photo credit: Susan & Bob Haake, 4/14/2020
The next set of photos were taken on 4/20/2020. We were worried that by this time the rain or people would have done in the flower. To our delight the flower was still there and in addition, there was another plant with a bloom and a third plant where the flower was pale yellow and most likely a hybrid. We couldn't resist and took more than a hundred photos.
This plant was the one that Tom originally found but a new flower
This is the same flower as the photo to the left.
This flower is newly opened on the second plant.
This in the third plant with a very pale yellow flower with red streaks.
This shows the three plants.
4/22/2020- Another visit to the area by Tom. The plant with the pale flower was still in bloom. The other two plants lost its flowers, however, hopefully the buds will bloom later. In this photo, the bud at the upper left appears to be quite yellow and some deep red anthers appear to be showing through.
Photo credit: Thomas Armstrong, 4/22/2020
4/20/2020: This area was amazingly covered with spring beauties. The warm winter, cool spring and abundant rain most likely helped.
We also notice only a few invasives.
I want to specially thank Thomas Armstrong for bringing this to our attention and showing us the location so that we also enjoyed the yellow spring beauty. All uncredited photos by H & M Ling .
Additional information
Additional information:
For spring beauty, Claytonia virginica, there are two varieties with yellow flowers. One is Claytonia virginica var. hammondiae, which has all yellow petal without any pink/red streaks. It is found only in limited areas of northwestern New Jersey. The other yellow-flowered variety is Claytonia virginica f. lutea, which is shown here. It has been found in Pennsylvania and Maryland.