Thank you Sue. This picture was actually shot with a regular SLR camera using Kodachrome slide film. It represents only a handful of flower slides that I have actually scanned into digital file format. Perhaps all of the remaining flower pics in this gallery were shot with a digital camera. So its interesting that this was the one that grabbed you.
Horse Sugar (Symploccos tinctoria) is a southern shrub/small tree, reaching the northern limit of its range in Virginia. Nevertheless, it is found with regular frequency on the sandy bluffs and floodplains along the upper Mattaponi River. Biting the midvein of the leaf yields a sweet taste (hence the name "Horse Sugar"?). The flowers come out before the leaves (around the same time as the Dogwoods). By the time the leaves have fully expanded, the flowers are long gone. So the first time I encountered this flower I didn't know what it was and had to key it out, only to learn that I was already quite familiar with the plant.
