May 12,
Mt. Greylock
State Reservation, Williamstown
A
confusing flower of blue cohosh: what
looks like corolla
is actually petaloid calyx--sepals,
which may be variously colored from
purple to yellow.
The real petals are
the short fan-like structures;
pistil is
asymmetric, with a
single bent stigma. Flowers are
six-merous (that is, their parts
numbering six).