Prairie Pasque

If you look closely at the dry brown pastures along the roadways, you can sometimes see the velvety outline of the prairie pasque’s hairy stem in the morning sun.

This is the time of year that the little purple harbinger of spring makes its appearance in western North Dakota.

Commonly called a crocus, the prairie pasque beats most blooming wildflowers by three or more weeks when it appears out of nowhere in early April. It grows close to the ground on a light green hairy stem. Its blooms range from cool white to deep purple on the outside and generally a lighter shade in the inside. There’s a yellow center, the perfect complement to the purple – Easter colors. That will assist you in remembering when they usually appear – around Easter.

If you want to catch the flower in full bloom, you have to keep your eyes peeled. It comes and goes very quickly, and is not a sturdy flower. It is also prone to tiny black bugs, which usually find it at its peak.

Growing up in a small town, close to small farms, we picked them from the fields while flying kites in last year’s hay fields. The pasque flowers were a sign that spring has arrived and school was soon to end.

They were abundant in the matted dead grass. And, the best means of spreading these lovely little blooms is by allowing cattle into the fields to spread the seed.

Beautiful to look at, and photograph, they are not a good flower choice to pick for bouquets, nor are they edible.

The pasque is highly toxic and produces cardiogenic toxins and oxytoxins, according to Wikipedia. These chemicals slow the human heart. Too much can lead to diarrhea, vomiting and convulsions. Native Americans used the pasque for medicinal purposes. The Blackfeet used the pasque flower to induce labor. Therefore, it should be avoided by pregnant woman. (The entire article can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasque_flower.)

If you haven’t found a field of wild pasque near your home, there are many commercial varieties of crocus available. They resemble the pasque and arrive in your flower bed about the same time of year. They are also available in many colors outside of the range of purple that colors the pasque.
Commercial crocuses are from the iris family and are perennials. The corms, or tubers, can be planted along side your tulips, iris and other early blooming perennials.

If planted on the south side of the house, the soil will warm early in the year and when the days lengthen, they are sure to make an appearance before nearly any other perennial. This close to the ground flower, three to four inches tall, can be found peeping through the white of spring snows some years. It is a perfect cold hardy plant for North Dakota.

As you drive to work this week, keep looking to the ditches and pastures. In the early morning sun you can see a hairy white outline indicative of the prairie pasque. There are so many of these wildflowers on the prairie that South Dakota had adopted it as its state flower, you just need to know where to look.

So slow down and take some time to admire this native species of the high plains, but no picking please. It’s important to preserve these beauties for generations to come.