A Protected Flower

Hi Everyone, Spring has been in the air for a couple weeks now. One of the first signs for Czechs to know that spring has sprung is when they catch a quick glimpse of a rare "praire flower". The proper English name is "pasque flower". This flower only blossoms once a year for only about two weeks. It is usually seen at the end of March or first part of April and is one of the first spring flowers to show itself. Here in the Czech Republic it is protected because it is a rare flower that only grows in a few areas mostly in the mountains. However, there is a small area in Brno where this flower blossoms each year. Several of the Czech families I know live near this place. The government has put a fence around the area and marked it as a national nature reservation area. People are not allowed to bring their dogs into this area and they have to be careful not to step on any of the flowers. It was quite a beautiful sight seeing the fields of violet all over. I did do some research on this flower and found out that it is part of the buttercup family of flowers and that it is quite popular in the State of South Dakota in fact it is their state flower.