Skunk-cabbage in flower.

February 18.

Ground nearly bare of snow.
Pleasant day with a strong south wind.

Skate, though the ice is soft in spots.
See the skunk-cabbage in flower.

Gather nuts and apples on the bare ground,
still sound and preserving their colors,
red and green.



H. D. Thoreau, Journal, February 18, 1851

See the skunk-cabbage in flower. See February 13, 1851 ("The first flower of the season; for it is a flower. I doubt if there is [a] month without its flower. Examined by the botany all its parts, the first flower I have seen. The Ictodes fætidus.") and note to March 21, 1858 ("The skunk-cabbage at Clamshell is well out, shedding pollen. It is evident that the date of its flowering is very fluctuating,") See also A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, the Earliest Flower

gathering

                     (the ground

                     bare of snow

                     pleasant day

                     strong south wind

                     soft ice

                     skunk-cabbage
                     in flower)

nuts and apples

    (still sound)

colors red and green
on the bare ground.

zphx 20100224

February 16, 1851 <<<<<