This is not a fat and furry pussy willow catkin; it’s a fat and furry star magnolia bud that has been visited by one of our first spiders of the year. This bud soon will be one of a small, dense Milky Way of bursting white stars that appear before the plant’s leaves do. Here’s a Leighton Archive image of a star magnolia flower in full bloom:
Star magnolias (Magnolia stellata) are one of the smallest magnolias. They usually are cultivated in bush or small tree forms that produce their showy flowers in early spring. The plant reportedly is from the highlands of the Japanese island of Honshu and was introduced into the United States in the 1860’s. (First image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on April 24, 2025.)