Cardamine hirsuta (Hairy bittercress)
I went out into the woods beside my office this afternoon and took pictures of two very small flowers. The first, pictured here, are the flowers of the hairy bittercress, Cardamine hirsuta. These are a pretty significant pest weed in our lawns these days and are quite remarkable. They flower quite early in the spring and continue to produce flowers for a good while. They go from opening buds to fully ripe seeds in a remarkably short time and the seed capsules are designed to burst explosively when touched, sending the seeds flying far from the parent plant. If you walk though a lawn covered with these in seed, it’s quite an experience.