April wildflowers: Yellow trout lily (Erythronium americanum)

 

I'm just so smitten with these spring blooms! The bright yellow petals, with their freckles and curves, and the mottled leaves, from which trout lily earned its name, are so charming. And if you are on the trails early, you can witness it unfurling its petals as it wakes up under the morning sun. Yellow trout lily blooms before the deciduous forest canopy overhead gets its leaves, capitalizing on that early spring sun and those early spring pollinators.

A sister species with white petals can also be found.