Even now, in mid-spring, there are enough wildflowers blooming to make a typical walk in the woods into a hunting trip. Naturalist Bruce Beerbower and biology professor Karen McDougal have been observing the wonders of the outdoors for much of their lives. Here are their tips for having a great wildflower hike.

1. Don’t pick them, even if you plan on planting them at home. Many wildflowers depend on very specific underground networks to bloom and you likely won’t be able to reproduce that. Instead, you’ll kill the flower.

2. Want to know what it is? If you don’t have a camera, write down the color and shape of the leaves and flowers, count how many petals it has and notice whether the leaves and flowers are symmetrical. Also estimate how big it is — the size of a dime? A quarter? A 50-cent piece? All these details will help when you look it up.

3. Here’s where to look for flowers: In places with trees that lose their leaves so the ground can get sunshine, in moist coves and on north-facing slopes that aren’t too steep, especially those above bodies of water.

4. Look around before you reach down to touch. Lots of these little jewels grow near the ground and their leaves often help you identify them. So it makes sense you’ll want to get on their level. Just watch for spiders, snakes and poison ivy, which might not yet have its tell-tale three leaves unfurled.

5. Don’t drink stream or river water. Sure, it looks clean and it’s colder than what’s in your bottle. It also can give you parasites such at Giardia, which often results in what Beerbower calls Montezuma’s Revenge. If you’ve been on antibiotics, you’re particularly at risk.

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