Hey dear Hive community, as always I hope that you are all well and you had a day that has been full of positive experiences! Today I would like to go into a little bit about nature and hope you can expand your knowledge a little.
It was a great pleasure of me to have recently discovered the first Liverwort, which is also known under the scientific name Hepatica. There is not without reason the quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882) "The earth laughs in flowers." and this definitely comes out well with the enchanting radiance of the liverwort and according to mythology, this flower was once created from drops of blood which have fallen to the ground. The typical color is blue as well as violet and the reason for the color are active ingredients which are also known as anthocyans and in addition, active ingredients of this group can have an antioxidant effect and this natural pigment is responsible for the color of several hundred different types of plants. Normally, the first flowers only appear from March and the liverwort flowers are an important messenger of spring and also attract numerous insects as an important food source, which otherwise have a hard time because they do not find much which is blooming. It is important to know that the flowers do not have nectar and the ecological benefit refers to the value of pollen and especially often it is visited by hover flies, beetles, wild bees or other insects and especially wild bees that are increasingly threatened with extinction, find an important source of food here and the flowers are also pollinated by insects. Liverwort is able to multiply themselves via seeds and it has the interesting property that it is able to isolate some substances into the soil via the roots, which ensure that other plants have a problem spreading nearby. Unfortunately, the flowering period is only short-lived and as soon as the flowers have opened, they close again relatively quickly and it is important to know that you should keep back from collecting these flowers because it is becoming increasingly rare in some places and is even threatened with extinction.
Thank you for stopping by and I hope you could learn something new about nature! I captured these pictures with my Camera Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm lens