This tiny, beautiful flower only grows in northern New Jersey

There is a rare little wildflower that is blooming in North Jersey this month. The really unique thing is that this particular flower is not growing anywhere else on earth.

Barbara Brummer, director of the New Jersey chapter of The Nature Conservancy, said this little flower is called, "Hammond's spring beauty."

"It is related to the common spring beauty that you find all around northern New Jersey that blooms at this time of year," she said. "It is maybe 3 inches tall and it grows in wet 'seep' areas, where the water is kind of 'seeping' out of the side of the mountain."

The flower is beautiful, is a brilliant yellow, has five petals, and is tiny compared to a flower you might grow in your garden.

"But it only occurs in a very unique area in northern New Jersey," she said.

Brummer said while this rare flower may be small, it lacks nothing as far as beauty is concerned.

"This one usually has a longer blooming period of maybe a month to a month and a half, maybe two months. So it has a longer blooming period, and after that, it kind of disappears, and you do not see it till the following year," she said.

The Conservancy is serious about preserving and protecting this little flower, acquiring 100 acres where it grows in Sussex County, on "The Arctic Meadows Preserve."

But before you pack your camera, know this: The preserve is not open to the public, and any visitation or photography of the flowers, when allowed, is solely by advance arrangement with a Nature Conservancy chaperone. The Conservancy's Public relations manager said the group wanted to make that clear so that people, "don't start tromping around on the fields."

Joe Cutter is the afternoon news anchor on New Jersey 101.5.

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