Packera glabella, a member of the aster family, is one of St. Martin Parish’s earliest spring wildflowers, blooming as early as December in recent years, even as the rust-colored bald cypress leaves are only finally beginning to fall from their branches. Its characteristic bright yellow color is reflected in the two names it more commonly goes by: butterweed and yellowtops. The wildflower’s hollow green stalks are vertically ribbed, like a hollow celery, allowing it to grow four or five feet tall under the right conditions. At the peak of their season, populations of yellowtops in the Atchafalaya Basin can stretch on for many miles, covering entire landscapes in yellow clusters.
