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I found these new flowers of native Milk Maids aka California Toothwort (Cardamine californica) in the woods today - the first I've seen this year. It's a woodland native in the Brassicaceae) plant family. It's related to the weedy yellow mustards that cover the California hills, but this one is native. (San Marcos Pass, 1 February 2013)
Like all mustards, they have four long stamens and two shorter ones. The flowers have a pleasant radish-like taste and are good in a salad. It's known as Toothwort, but you have to dig it up to find the tasty "tooth" hidden underground. Don't even think about it with these first flowers!
It's great fun trying to spot the first new wildflowers that appear in the woods. It's a bit like a ball bouncing from a height - bump....bump....bump...bump..bump.bum.bu.b.bbbbbb! I like finding the early spring flowers and the late summer flowers, but I always lose it in the middle.