A plant with funny blossoms

This is a springtime wildflower native to the eastern half of North America reaching far into Canada. It is called Dutchman’s Breeches because the plant’s flowers reminded the American naturalists who found and documented it of a Dutchman’s breeches hanging on a line to dry.

You can find wild Dutchman’s Breeches pushing through forest leaf litter in the same spot year after year. It is a perennial plant. Bumblebees are this spring wildflower’s primary pollinator. Other less burly insects are mostly unable to pry the petals apart to get to the flower’s pollen.

Seed pods each look similar to small green bean pods and hold a few small round black seeds. A cultivar of this flower has pink flowers and can be bought where flower seeds are sold.