Alien Garden

Day 198: This would be the gratuitous bleeding-heart shot without which no wildflower photographer's portfolio would be complete. That said, for as many different photographers as exist in the world, there are as many different ways of portraying this beautiful plant. I found mine on a short walk at Swofford Pond today.

The forest to the south of Swofford is largely "sun-fleck" habitat because for the better portion of the day, the sun is blocked by the hills. The overstory is dense and the ground is kept moist by seeps and small springs. It is the perfect habitat for ferns, Skunk Cabbage, Bleeding-Heart (Dicentra) and its cousin Corydalis. The leaves of the latter two species are easily confused, that of Bleeding-Heart being more finely divided and lacy. The two species are often found growing together. Today, a shaft of sunlight touched these two flower clusters briefly when I entered the glade, backlighting them to show the spurred structure of the flower. The setting's primaeval ambience was such that had a Diplodocus entered the scene, I would not have been surprised.