Featured in Endangered Plants – July 18, 2009
WINNER! Endangered Plants Avatar Challenge – June 4, 2009
Top 10 Placement in Challenge in Art By Bubble Hosts – May 22, 2009
Featured in You’re Accepted – May 11, 2009

Like a kid in a candy shop, I didn’t know which group of Crocus’ to photograph first. There was a field of these little beauties near Oakbank, Manitoba yesterday. This is my first 2009 wildflower photo, with many more to follow hopefully.
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi; 17-85mm lens

The Prairie Crocus is the floral emblem of the province of Manitoba, Canada. The floral emblem of Manitoba was officially adopted when an act respecting its adoption was given Royal Assent on March 16, 1906. Accordingly, “The flower known botanically as the anemone patens, and popularly called the ‘crocus’, shall be adopted as and deemed to be the floral emblem of the province.” (www.homeschooling.about.com)

These little beauties are found in sandy areas of the province, but get them quickly, they are only around for a few weeks. They are a tufted, silky-hairy perennial 10-40cm tall; the leaves mainly basil 4-10cm wide, divided 1-3 times into slender segments, long stalked; stem leaves are smaller. The flowers are blue-purple, cupped about 2.5-3.5cm across, with 5-7 petal-like sepals. They bloom March-June in Manitoba in open, well-drained sites. I find them in late April, early May where I live. The Prairie Crocus is on the endangered plants list due to the destruction of suitable habitat, including the cemetery grounds where I took this photo. The grounds are being expanded and the Crocus’ will be destroyed.