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Hepaticas

 

 

South of river Emajõgi the hepaticas are flowering, but northwards only some lonely buds in sunny and sheltered spots show. The heat wave of the weekend together with spring rain should change the situation but of course warmth at night is needed. Then the brown frogs can begin spawning; spring seems to have come to a halt.

 

From where does this beautiful flowerer take its force and power now? The hepatica has an underground rhizome obliquely in the ground, with thick roots. There the substances needed for flowering are stored. Even the hepatica leaves are from last year and when the flowering begins, already with a reddish tinge at the edges. New leaves start growing only after the flowering.

 

The flower stems, pedicels, develop at the leaf base near the ground. The colour of the petals can be very different, fading to a paler colour as they age, and their number varies. The bracts and petals of the hepatica are not quite differentiated and so the blue petals are really sepals. Spring-like and beautiful, seen close up and from afar.