Earlier in January I was out walking and was shocked to come across a plant that was blooming alongside the trail. As I’ve said a few times now, this has been an unusually cold winter for this area, so finding blooming flowers, especially out in the open, was really surprising. The flowers looked familiar to me, but I couldn’t place them at the time so I took some photos (I would have anyhow. How often do you find flowers blooming in January, even in central Florida?). When I got them identified I realized why they looked familiar. They’re wild radishes (Raphanus raphanistrum), a common, nonnative “weed”. It’s very hardy and in many places it’s considered invasive. Part of its hardiness is its ability to resist cold and continue to bloom until there is a hard freeze. And even then, as soon as the weather warms, it begins to bloom again. It’s quite common for it to cover fields and clearings with little yellow flowers during the winter here in the southeastern United States. I don’t know how I’ve never seen these flowers blooming in winter before, but I learned something new thanks to that little outing. That’s part of what’s so much fun about studying nature. There are always new and interesting things to learn.

Any thoughts?