Spring Wildflowers in Iowa: A Wildflower Photo Collection

Spring wildflowers do not bloom very long. They don’t usually occur in massive displays of color. But they are my favorite flowers to search for. When the first wildflowers start to appear in March, you know spring is just around the corner. After a long, cold, snowy winter, they are a beautiful and welcome sight! Here are some of my favorites.

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) – Poppy Family(Papaveraceae)

Showy white flower with 8 to 10 petals. If you break open the stem or root it will have an orange-red juice, hence the name. Grows 6-12” tall and can be found in rich woods.
Blooms March-May

Rue-Anemone (Anemonella thalictroides) – Buttercup Family (Ranunculaceae)

A dainty plant with flowers on slender stems above a whorl of small 3-lobed leaves. May have 5-10 pink petals.
Grows 4-8” tall and found in woods.
Blooms March – May

Dutchman’s-breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) – Poppy Family (Papaveraceae)

A personal favorite. Delicate white flowers with yellow tips. Has 2 spurs that look like an upside down pair of pants. Droops in a row on an arching stem. Grows 5-9” tall in rich woods.
Blooms April – May

Early Buttercup (Ranunculus fascicularis) – Buttercup Family (Ranunculaceae)

As the name implies, this is the earliest to bloom of the buttercup family. The flowers have 5-7 bright yellow petals. Grows 6-8” tall in open woods, hillsides and prairies.
Blooms April – May

Prairie Trillium (Trillium recurvatum) – Lily Family (Liliaceae)

Erect maroon petals with drooping sepals. Leaves, petals and sepals are all in whorls of 3. Grows from 6-16” tall and found in woods.
Blooms April – May

Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema atrorubens) – Arum Family (Araceae)

This unusual plant has a leaf-like bract or spathe that encloses a flower cluster called a spadix. They are green or purplish-brown and sometimes striped. This is a woodland variety.
Blooms April – June

Blue Phlox (Phlox divaricata) – Phlox Family (Polemoniaceae)

Even though its name is Blue Phlox, these flowers are pale violet with 5 petals which radiate out from the tip of the stem. The petals are wedge-shaped. Grows 10-20” tall in rich open woods.
Blooms April – June

Large Flowered Bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora) – Lily Family (Liliaceae)

Large yellow drooping flower. The leaves clasp the stem. Grows 6-20” tall in woods.
Blooms May – June

Sharp Lobed Hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba) – Buttercup Family (Ranunculaceae)

These have pointed 3-lobed leaves. Flowers are 6-10 petals with 3 bracts below the flower. Flowers are white, pink, lavender or blue. They grow 4-9” tall in upland woods.
Blooms March – April

Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) – Purslane Family (Portulacaceae)

These have a pair of smooth leaves about halfway up the stem. Flowers have 5 petals of white or pink with darker pink veins. Grows 6-12” tall in moist woods.
Blooms March-May

Virginia Blue Bells (Mertensia virginica) – Forget-Me-Not Family (Boraginaceae)

These have nodding, trumpetlike flowers. The buds are pink but the flowers are blue. Grows 1-2’ tall in bottomlands or river woods.
Blooms March-May

Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum) – Geranium Family (Geraniaceae)

Deeply cut 5-parted leaves. Flowers have 5 pink petals with a long beak or cranesbill in the center of the flower. Grows 1-2’ tall in woods or shady roadsides.
Blooms April – June

Wood Anemone (Anemone quinquefolia) – Buttercup Family (Ranunculaceae)

A low growing plant with leaves deeply cut into 3-5 leaflets. Anemones have no petals but they have 5 white sepals that look like petals. Grows 4-8” tall in woods.
Blooms April – June

Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense)– Birthwort Family (Aristolochiaceae)

A very interesting flower that grows in the crotch between the 2 leafstalks at ground level. The flower is reddish-brown and cup-shaped with 3 pointed lobes. Leaves are large and heart-shaped. Grows 6-12” tall in rich woods.
Blooms April – May

Next spring, take a walk and see what you can find in your neck of the woods. And don’t forget your camera!