Wildflower Wednesday--Dutchman's Breeches

Dutchman’s Breeches

We’re always excited to see these distinctive, delicate white flowers with yellow highlights. Usually making their entrance just after the first round of cold tolerant flowers have bloomed, their arrival heralds the coming of truly warm weather!

These V-shaped, puffy flowers get their name from their resemblance to the pantaloons worn by early Dutch settlers. But we prefer the nickname “staggerweed”--as a relative of the poppy, it’s been known to get cows and other animals stoned if they eat too much!

Dutchman’s Breeches is another forest plant that relies on ants to spread its seeds through myrmecochory; a fancy name for bribing the ant to take the seed with a tasty treat.

Bonus--These beautiful flowers are pollinated by butterflies