Friendly Pasture Flowers

I walked to the border between the farm's lawn and the south hayfield and was greeted by a sea of grass and wildflowers. I recognized a few, of course, but others were new to me and I had to look them up. I photographed a few and present them here as friendly pasture flowers. If I've got any IDs wrong, don't hesitate to let me know. I'm in active learning mode.

The purple legume above is certainly Cow Vetch, Vicia cracca. I at first thought that the tiny white flowers growing with it were wild baby's breath, but upon a search of my Peterson's Field Guide decided that it's Mouse-Ear Chickweed, Cerastium vulgatum. I guess I'm only used to seeing it mowed nearly to the ground in suburban lawns.

Red Clover above, Trifolium pratense.

Alas, I didn't get enough details of the above yellow flower to ID it now. It's a mustard, I'm fairly sure, but I'll have to remember to take a closer look when I next visit in order to figure out which one.

This flamingo pink composite flower caught me by surprise. It was considerably pinker than it appears in the photo. I decided it's Common Fleabane, Erigeron philadelphicus. What a pleasant addition to a field of waving grasses.

Common Fleabane again, this one showing even less color. But having a photo of the leaves was important for me to figure out what it was.

Common Buttercup above, Ranunuculus acris. My childhood summers were filled with buttercups. We'd been told that if you held a blossom under a person's chin you could tell if they liked butter or not. If the yellow reflected off their skin, they liked butter. If not, they didn't. A fun activity for children, but looking back on it I think that everyone liked butter but no one's skin reflected the yellow. Oh well, I'm never one to let reality or lack of logic interfere with happy memories and silly notions. I'd rather have fun.

Another common clover which everyone probably knows: White Clover, Trifolium repens.

Of the 6 species I photographed and identified, only Common Fleabane is a native plant. The others are all aliens, escapees from other places. It makes me wonder what a New York field might have looked like before the introduction of so many alien species. Well, I guess they're native now and it's a pleasure to make their acquaintance.

I'll try to get pictures of more local flowers. I'm pretty sure I saw Purple Fringed Orchis growing alongside the road last weekend. But I was fatigued and in a hurry and didn't stop to take a closer look. Maybe next time..........