May 5

Dogtooth Violet (Adder’s Tongue) in bloom.

I went down by the wetland area where the road from Paxton to Leicester follows the Kettlebrook reservoir then drops downhill as it parallels the outlet stream. This is one of my favorite sections of the town, mostly because the two-mile stretch passes through protected land, where only the pines on either side of the road and the occasional glimpse of the reservoir command the view.

The skunk cabbage has been in leaf here for nearly two months, and its large foliage lines the stream sides making it easy to distinguish the meander of the river from far away. The water is flowing quickly now, out over the spillway of the reservoir and coursing downhill through the rushes that have seemingly grown overnight. The sound of the water running swiftly and of the periodic breeze across the reservoir that shakes the nearby pines are simply peaceful.

At the bottom, where the road flattens and intersects with Marshall Street, there was a patch of Dogtooth Violet, also known as Adder’s Tongue. These are beautiful early May flowers that show their sharply pointed six yellow petals droopingly atop a pedicle flanked by two mottled green leaves. They prefer the moist lowland, though I don’t recall seeing them here last year.

The road up Marshall is a steep climb away from the river valley, and the north side of the road, perhaps 100 feet up from the intersection, was a show of red trillium and Early Saxifrage, just beyond the road’s edge. Farther still, perhaps a quarter of a mile, the houses begin, and with cultivation goes the decline of these sensitive wildflowers.