An unexpected explosion of emerging spring beauties at the edge of a melting snowdrift will stop me in my tracks . The sight of a subalpine meadow carpeted in glacier lilies will have the same effect . Where do I , while taking in the fragile beauty of a thousand lemon-yellow lilies , plant the next footstep without diminishing the defining essence of this expansive floral bouquet ?
My quests for wildflowers have placed me in year-round searches , and within the past decades , I ’ ve found blooming “ prairie crocuses ” during all but one month of the year .
The name “ prairie crocus ,” despite its ubiquitous use , is an unfortunate misnomer . Why ? No true Crocus lives in Alberta , except in floral shops , nurseries , and — of course — in backyards .
Our “ crocus ” is actually a pasqueflower ( Pulsatilla patens ), a member of the buttercup family ( Ranunculaceae ).
Albertans run into the same linguistic confusion whenever they refer to native ground squirrels as “ gophers .” This , in addition to being biologically incorrect , creates a downwind hiccup whenever someone tries to describe our native pocket gophers , which are not ground squirrels .
The use of common names forces botanists to rely on binomial nomenclature — as I ’ ve done above — for clarification while , generally speaking , birders and zoologists don ’ t do this . ( Even within organized science , there ’ s disorganized confusion .)
But , back to flowers . What is the secret in finding Pulsatilla patens in seasons other than spring , you ask ? Look for pasqueflowers and several other species of “ spring ” wildflowers during any month of the year when adequate soil moisture , frost-free ground , and spring conditions prevail — and you might be rewarded .
Glacier Lily ( Erythronium grandiflorum )
Prairie Crocus ( Pulsatilla patens )
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