Yellow bells, buttercups

Editor's note: Last week's history column included an assumption on our part that has proven erroneous. An astute reader pointed out that the yellow bell, rather than being another name for a buttercup, is another variety of very early blooming wildflower in sagebrush country. In 1966, children in the area did indeed look for the first blossoms of the yellow bell. Both the yellow bell and the buttercup are bright yellow flowers, and both are among the first to bloom in the early spring. As the pictures show, however, the two are very different-looking flowers.

In later years, the buttercup, for reasons unknown, became the flower of choice for youngsters and others to search for once the weather began to warm up.