Cardamine hirsuta (Hairy Bittercress) -- basal leaves radiate in rhythm, like a heavily dewed web. thin spire exalts a clustered white. secondary soon-to-be-seed spires that are dark and angled like miniature cattails.
Veronica persica (Persian Speedwell) -- ubiquitous, abundant, herald of spring. ornate architectural leaves, lightly haired. four petaled bloom borrows blue and white from the sky.
Stellaria media (Chickweed) -- jointed, quiet leafed. gentle petaled, petals like white eyelashes, lush. carpets the ground in young green.
Lamium purpureum (Purple Dead-nettle) -- pagoda tiers. deep shingle venation. purple dusk tones the upper leaves. recessed stars—the sepal moulds of spent blooms, and blooms like the open mouth of a purple beaked bird.
Viola arvensis (Field Pansy) -- be quiet or you will miss them—a patch huddled to the soil. flower dips from this stem, five purple-twinged white petals traced with vivid purple veins pouring from a sunlit turmeric throat, throat shaded by tufting hairs. leaves vary and bunch.
Lamium amplexicaule (Henbit) -- assertive, even, prong and dot, crowned in fanned steps. borrowing from the clouds over a west-swung sun. square of stem. bloom that dives into itself, beauty-marked.
Vinca major (Greater Periwinkle) -- gloss-green heart-form leaves, light simple veins. spires from disturbed areas in resilient assertion. a single flower, petals at each pentagram point of the cavernous center. huddled pale orange forms in the middle of the deep.
Euphorbia helioscopia (Sun Spurge) — small toothed leaves step up from dark to bright green along the red-twinged succulent stem, break stem for milky white sap, supposedly toxic. the vivid green flower follows the sun, catching its rays in bowls. parts of threes, small spheres nestled in like eggs.
Hepatica nobilis var. obtusa (Round-lobed Hepatica) -- deep maroon stem graced with white whiskers. downy leaves huddle low. three hidden bracts brace the back of six lilac sepal-like petals in reverse vignette. a lime pistil, and miniature q-tips radiate from it. a small thing.
Cardamine concatenata (Cutleaf Toothwort) -- light-spined leaves, slender and deep-toothed, three of three in this instance. stem like the gentlest question. flowers in ascending array caught in every stage from bud to shrivel. petals of four, ballet pink tucking into deep sepals. pistil culminates in pale yellow dot, stamen’s anther curls green to bow inward to the stigma.
Uvularia grandiflora (Largeflower Bellwort) -- this stem emerges from a purple blushed case, arcs sap green like an incomplete cursive letter, its humility might startle you. pale green-tinted yellow petals drape in bell silhouette. leaves clasp the stem then fold out and follow gravity.
Scilla luciliae (Lucile’s glory-of-the-snow) -- true twin form, two leaves in elegant length. two flowers are six-petaled, hued violet and ribbed in light, cool grey. a central white cone supports a narrow yellow peak—the bloom’s inner mountain.
Enemion biternatum (Eastern False Rue Anemone) -- found in colony, bright carpet of delicacy. slender maroon stalks support fans of three triple-lobed leaves like offering hands gently cupped to sunlight. five bride-white petals gather around numerous yellow-tipped stamens, which crowd a pale green anther.
Muscari neglectum (Grape Hyacinth) -- ascending cluster of small, vivid violet balloons, pucker-opening white at each base. leaves strew like strands of limp cupped grass.
Sanguinaria canadensis (Bloodroot) -- a single leaf, new born from soil, emerges like the hoof-print of some mythical creature, curiously lobed, utterly distinct. then a flower of brilliant white that seems to glow, gently cupped with golden filaments huddled in the center that seem to rejoice. the stem gradates from mauve pink to subtle green. a root of red to dye.
Erodium cicutarium (Common Stork’s Bill) -- fringed leaves and thin haired-stalks that rise from green to salmon-red at the collared flower joint, warm and light purple petals give way to the green of erect seed spires.
Vicia sativa (Common Vetch) -- small and parallel veined leaflets wing each greater leaf, a curling tail grasps for fences or neighbors from the tip of a leaf. magenta pea flower petals spread over and angle against themselves.
Jeffersonia diphylla (Twinleaf) -- thin bowtie-wing leaves populate the air above a white silk-petaled bloom, pale yellow prongs curve to a green center. flower stem is muted purple, leaf stem is soft green.
Micranthes virginiensis (Early Saxifrage) -- home of rock and bed of moss, saxifrage clings with low basal leaves, finely pored. stems are red, rising to orange at the light green sepals and white petaled flowers, which bunch, then open with coral-orange pistils like freckles for the air. whole form is white bristled.
Erythronium americanum (Yellow Trout Lily) -- neon green light dapples soft-edged onto two mauve purple, wide-lance leaves—they clasp around the base of a stalk. a lily bows from the thin pale stalk. Three sepals mimic three petals, identical six altogether, peel backward, arc in vivid yellow away from soil. six stamens drape from the center.
Phlox divaricata (Wild blue phlox) -- hair lined stem sends out opposite haired leaves, narrow and simple with a light mid-vein. pin-striped buds bide time in the shadows of five-petaled blooms. wide, sometimes heart shaped petals narrow to pour their lilac hue over light shoulders into a deep central recess, dark in reproductive shadow.
Youngia japonica (Asiatic Hawksbeard) -- tufted, gradient stalk supports the clustered buds of potential. not yet unfurled, these narrow nubs merge orange to yellow, and will bloom to small lion’s mane—golden. basal leaves pinch to central vein, make a series of increasing wingspans, culminate in a single jagged lobe.
Trillium luteum (Yellow Trillium) -- a plant in three’s where parts are not what they seem. the stem is not a stem, but a rhizome that rises to leaf-like bracts that are not leaves—marbled lighter and darker green. set atop the bracts, three pale green sepals and three erect yellow petals—slender reaches of lemon scent.
Botanical Inkings -- Black walnut ink and white gouache on kudzu paper, mounted on woven kudzu

Botanical Inkings

Botanical Inkings
2021
Black walnut ink and white gouache on kudzu paper

Cardamine hirsuta
Hairy Bittercress
basal leaves radiate in rhythm, like a heavily dewed web. thin spire exalts a clustered white. secondary soon-to-be-seed spires that are dark and angled like miniature cattails.

Lamium amplexicaule
Henbit
assertive, even, prong and dot, crowned in fanned steps. borrowing from the clouds over a west-swung sun. square of stem. bloom that dives into itself, beauty-marked.

Lamium purpureum
Purple Dead-nettle
pagoda tiers. deep shingle venation. purple dusk tones the upper leaves. recessed stars—the sepal moulds of spent blooms, and blooms like the open mouth of a purple beaked bird.

Veronica persica
Persian Speedwell
ubiquitous, abundant, herald of spring. ornate architectural leaves, lightly haired. four petaled bloom borrows blue and white from the sky.

Stellaria media
Chickweed
jointed, quiet leafed. gentle petaled, petals like white eyelashes, lush. carpets the ground in young green.

Viola arvensis
Field Pansy
be quiet or you will miss them—a patch huddled to the soil. flower dips from this stem, five purple-twinged white petals traced with vivid purple veins pouring from a sunlit turmeric throat, throat shaded by tufting hairs. leaves vary and bunch.

Vinca major
Greater Periwinkle
gloss-green heart-form leaves, light simple veins. spires from disturbed areas in resilient assertion. a single flower, petals at each pentagram point of the cavernous center. huddled pale orange forms in the middle of the deep.

Euphorbia helioscopia
Sun Spurge
small toothed leaves step up from dark to bright green along the red-twinged succulent stem, break stem for milky white sap, supposedly toxic. the vivid green flower follows the sun, catching its rays in bowls. parts of threes, small spheres nestled in like eggs.

Uvularia grandiflora
Largeflower Bellwort
this stem emerges from a purple blushed case, arcs sap green like an incomplete cursive letter, its humility might startle you. pale green-tinted yellow petals drape in bell silhouette. leaves clasp the stem then fold out and follow gravity.

Scilla luciliae
Lucile’s glory-of-the-snow
true twin form, two leaves in elegant length. two flowers are six-petaled, hued violet and ribbed in light, cool grey. a central white cone supports a narrow yellow peak—the bloom’s inner mountain.

Cardamine concatenata
Cutleaf Toothwort
light-spined leaves, slender and deep-toothed, three of three in this instance. stem like the gentlest question. flowers in ascending array caught in every stage from bud to shrivel. petals of four, ballet pink tucking into deep sepals. pistil culminates in pale yellow dot, stamen’s anther curls green to bow inward to the stigma.

Hepatica nobilis var. obtusa
Round-lobed Hepatica
deep maroon stem graced with white whiskers. downy leaves huddle low. three hidden bracts brace the back of six lilac sepal-like petals in reverse vignette. a lime pistil, and miniature q-tips radiate from it. a small thing.

Muscari neglectum
Grape Hyacinth
ascending cluster of small, vivid violet balloons, pucker-opening white at each base. leaves strew like strands of limp cupped grass.

Vicia sativa
Common Vetch
small and parallel veined leaflets wing each greater leaf, a curling tail grasps for fences or neighbors from the tip of a leaf. magenta pea flower petals spread over and angle against themselves.

Sanguinaria canadensis
Bloodroot
a single leaf, new born from soil, emerges like the hoof-print of some mythical creature, curiously lobed, utterly distinct. then a flower of brilliant white that seems to glow, gently cupped with golden filaments huddled in the center that seem to rejoice. the stem gradates from mauve pink to subtle green. a root of red to dye.

Erodium cicutarium
Common Stork’s Bill
fringed leaves and thin haired-stalks that rise from green to salmon-red at the collared flower joint, warm and light purple petals give way to the green of erect seed spires.

Jeffersonia diphylla
Twinleaf
thin bowtie-wing leaves populate the air above a white silk-petaled bloom, pale yellow prongs curve to a green center. flower stem is muted purple, leaf stem is soft green.

Micranthes virginiensis
Early Saxifrage
home of rock and bed of moss, saxifrage clings with low basal leaves, finely pored. stems are red, rising to orange at the light green sepals and white petaled flowers, which bunch, then open with coral-orange pistils like freckles for the air. whole form is white bristled.

Youngia japonica
Asiatic Hawksbeard
tufted, gradient stalk supports the clustered buds of potential. not yet unfurled, these narrow nubs merge orange to yellow, and will bloom to small lion’s mane—golden. basal leaves pinch to central vein, make a series of increasing wingspans, culminate in a single jagged lobe.

Phlox divaricata
Wild Blue Phlox
hair lined stem sends out opposite haired leaves, narrow and simple with a light mid-vein. pin-striped buds bide time in the shadows of five-petaled blooms. wide, sometimes heart shaped petals narrow to pour their lilac hue over light shoulders into a deep central recess, dark in reproductive shadow.

Erythronium americanum
Yellow Trout Lily
neon green light dapples soft-edged onto two mauve purple, wide-lance leaves—they clasp around the base of a stalk. a lily bows from the thin pale stalk. Three sepals mimic three petals, identical six altogether, peel backward, arc in vivid yellow away from soil. six stamens drape from the center.

Enemion biternatum
Eastern False Rue Anemone
found in colony, bright carpet of delicacy. slender maroon stalks support fans of three triple-lobed leaves like offering hands gently cupped to sunlight. five bride-white petals gather around numerous yellow-tipped stamens, which crowd a pale green anther.

Trillium luteum
Yellow Trillium
a plant in three’s where parts are not what they seem. the stem is not a stem, but a rhizome that rises to leaf-like bracts that are not leaves—marbled lighter and darker green. set atop the bracts, three pale green sepals and three erect yellow petals—slender reaches of lemon scent.

Sherardia arvensis
Blue Field-madder
minuscule pale purple petals—four to a bloom, each in a crowning cluster. grassy green leaflets whorl and whirl like skirts at each jointed interval along the squared stem. subtle, almost velcro-like texture.