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Tahoe Nugget #77:

Spring has Sprung (5 Photos)
May 22, 2006

The huge Sierra snowpack is melting fast and is nearly gone at elevations below 6,500 feet. As the wet winter of 2006 winds down, the pleasures of springtime take over. Trees and flowers are blooming, mushrooms and snow plants are emerging, all part of a seasonal change that confirms the death of winter with the rebirth of spring.

Photo #1: Pushing up Daisies.
Photo #2: The common Dandelion, banned from suburban lawns, has a beauty all its own.
Photo #3: Morel mushrooms are an expensive culinary delicacy. The Narrow-Headed Morel grows wild in the Sierra and Tahoe Basin.
Photo #4: The unusual Snow Plant is not a plant at all, but more like a mushroom that survives on decayed organic matter. Because it does not utilize photosynthesis to grow, its leaves are red and not green.
Photo #5: The California Poppy is the state's flower that thrives in hot, dry conditions. It blossoms in the Tahoe Basin during the warm summer months. Its scientific name honors a Russian naturalist who visited California in 1824 and collected the first herbarium specimens of this flower.