Two days in a row now I have set out with a specific goal in mind. I try not to do that too often as being open to what presents itself can lead to some nice surprises. But Spring flowers have such a short window for blooming that I try not to miss them. Such was the case this morning with Yellow Stargrass.
The first time I found this plant at Quabbin Park it was almost in the middle of the trail. I am not sure which has moved but the flower is now on the edge of the trail surrounded by a lot of other plants making the background a little troublesome. It is a lovely flower with a very rich saturated yellow and I caught it in its first bloom. There are several more buds yet to pop but I am not sure whether I will get back there to get it with a few open. It’s a member of the Lily family.
I hope you don’t mind all the yellow recently. I’ll try for a little variety tomorrow. 🙂
Stephen Gingold Nature Photography Blog 
Yellow is always acceptable, Steve, especially when it comes like this. Very mellow.
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Thanks, Andrew.
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A few interesting and arcane points. 1) Most flowers with star names have five petals. 2) Yellow Star Grass — Hypoxis hirsuta — blooms here in the Ozark Highlands all the way through August. 3) This is a tiny gem — maybe 18mm wide at most. You got it very sharp. 4) Some botanists contend that yellow star grass is a yellow version of the Unicorn Root, aka Colicroot — Aletris farinosa. Like the yellow star, as you noted, Unicorn Root is a member of the Liliaceae. The dogtooth,too, which we’ve discussed here previously. 5) Yellow speaks strongly to me — just now there are plenty of yellow marigolds, tickseed, and lantana in bloom at 3 Dog Acres. 6) Sweet! We can’t let the opportunity pass to give a shout out to excellence!
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Your observation about star names and five seems true in Texas as well. Two that come to mind are blue stars
http://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2014/04/30/blue-stars-again/
and Texas yellow star
http://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2012/06/25/texas-yellow-star/
I’ll conjecture that the connection comes from the fact that in European (and therefore American) culture we so often draw a stylized star with five points. I’ll also conjecture that the culture settled on that number because we can draw the type of stylized five-pointed star that has a pentagon at its center in a continuous movement, without lifting our writing implement off the surface we’re drawing on.
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Perceptive observation, Steve. Your blue and yellow Texas Stars are very pretty, too. You Texans are very much attuned to stars!
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Texas is the Lone Star State, after all, so it’s not so surprising.
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I think your idea about the one stroke star is apt, Steve. Relatedly, I knew someone who did a series of drawings that were all based on a single line. He never got much notoriety, but the concept was interesting.
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Seems to me I’ve heard of that concept, too, but I can’t remember where.
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Thanks for all of that, Eb. I go through various color phases. Yellow can be a difficult color to capture without over-saturating, but these are so naturally saturated that it makes things easy. I noticed the relationship with Colicroot in some other writings when researching the flower.
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I’ll second the vote for yellow, the brighter and more saturated the better.
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Then this is the flower for you.
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NIt usre how I missed this post. I must have missed more than I’ve thought. Guess I was feeling pretty awful back in June of 2014.
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The important thing is that you are feeling better now…right? I hope.
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Yes, I’m stronger than I was last year and the year before. I tire easily from the meds but I just keep pushing on most of the time with rest periods for an hour so during the day.
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Oops. I had not finished proofing/writing. This one is beautiful and I can look at yellow flowers all day and never get tired.
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I like yellow too, Yvonne. And red. And green. And brown. And blue. 🙂
Thanks!
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🙂 🙂 🙂
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