This is Bird Hills, Huron River Watershed, southern Lower Peninsula of Michigan.
Winter Aconite (Eranthis hightails). Big thanks to Chris Stier and Tim Dykema, who helped me identify this flower.
Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis)
Thanks to Tim Dykema for finding this illustration.
These trout lily (Erythronium americanum) leaves are in focus. They look a little like trout viewed through water, don’t they? Yellow blossoms to come.
Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) emerging from soggy ground.
One of the set of leaves looks like a wild geranium leaf, which are native to Michigan. It is possible there is more than one flower & leaf type in those pictures, so it makes it hard to zero in on the exact one. You might try the wildflower id program. http://www.realtimerendering.com/cgi-bin/flowers.cgiThese were suggested by a wildflower id program: Wild Oats/Sessile Bellwort (photos)
Perfoliate Bellwort (photos)
Trout-Lily (photos)
Yellow Iris/Water Flag (photos)
Larger Blue Iris (photos)
Wild Iris/Blue Flag (virginica) (photos)
Dwarf Lake Iris (photos)
Stargrass (photos)
Yellow Lady’s-Slipper (photos)
Hoary Puccoon (photos).
Thanks Kim. I’m really grateful to have your ideas. I’m pretty sure that’s not a wild geranium leaf. Bird Hills will be full of wild geraniums later. I’m familiar with and have photographed all of the others, too. I’ve hunted around online quite a bit already. I’ll have to consult my field guides as soon as I can get my hands on them. The mystery of the yellow flower deepens!
It’s Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis). Thanks again for your ideas!