![]() ![]() So far, I’ve seen just two magnolia blossoms, this one and a white one that had been nipped by frost. From a distance it might be easy to mistake one for a dwarf crab apple when it wasn’t in bloom. They usually bloom at about the same time Forsythias do, but they are seen in the form of small trees rather than the shrubby form of Forsythias. Man has had a relationship with this now little-known shrub for about 7000 years, and we know that from finding remains of meals from the early Neolithic period that included cornelian cherry fruit. It is the fruit of the Cornelian cherry that is the reason it has been used since ancient times. Though I’ve never seen it they say that each flower will become a small red fruit. The entire flower cluster seen here is barely an inch across. They are members of the dogwood family but you would never know it by the tiny flowers, each one about an eighth of an inch across. That ancient plant the Cornelian cherry ( Cornus mas) has bloomed. They’re prettier in my opinion, with their dark guide lines that help insects find the prize. I’ve read that the American Violet Society says that the white ones are just white versions of the common blue violet ( Viola sororia.) A kind of natural hybrid, I suppose. I was doubly surprised to see that they were white wood violets ( Viola sororia albiflora) because I see maybe one white one for every hundred blue / purple ones. Since violets don’t usually bloom here until the end of April, I was surprised to find them so early. ![]()
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