Floral autumn in March

While driving into my neighborhood along Morado Circle at the end of the first week in March I noticed an anomaly: a flowering goldenrod plant. If you know goldenrod, you know that it normally blooms in the fall or occasionally in late summer, so what this one was doing flowering in March I have no idea.

This goldenrod might be Solidago nemoralis. The genus is glommed-together Latin for ‘I make whole,’ a reference to the reputed medicinal value of some goldenrods; the species name suggests that the plant grows in the woods or in the shade of trees.

After passing this prodigy by car for several days, I went back with my camera and ring flash on the drizzly morning of March 10 to take some pictures, including the one you see here.

© 2016 Steven Schwartzman