Tag Archives: spring flowers

Abundance

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I love exploring the woods all year round, but especially during the spring, it’s always thrilling to see what has emerged since my last visit. There’s something about seeing the evolution of the plants peeking through the earth on one visit, to them struggling towards the sun on another and then, finally, blooming. In the past, I’ve been honored to experience them emerge on my daily hikes. Unfortunately, the last couple of years my schedule hasn’t allowed me to go into the woods as much I would like, missing too many of my friends in bloom.

This year has been particularly difficult for me to slip into the woods regularly. However, on my annual birthday hike, I was more than blessed with a spring bouquet. Typically, there is a progression of blossoms in the woods. I call the first ones Spring Indicators: Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara), Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea repens), Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), and Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus). These tend to be the first arrivals and then as the weeks progress, others go into bloom as their blossoms disappear.  This year spring has been different on so many levels, and perhaps the plants knew they needed to take advantage of the fine weather to make their move all at once. Lucky for me, it felt like everyone waited to bloom for my birthday hike. Not only was everyone blooming in concert, there was an extraordinary abundance of them. In the past, I might see only few Bloodroot in bloom. This year, I saw more than four large patches of them.

Quite frankly, I am blessed with a fabulous day to be born ~ May 4th. There is nothing better than having a birthday in May, when everything is breaking out of its winter slumber and painting the woods with a rainbow of colors. Although, winter seemed to linger way too long this year, I was not disappointed when spring decided to show herself on the day of my birth.

Check out all the lovelies along the trail.

Lovely Bloodroot

Lots of Bloodroot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trailing Arbutus

Look how the Trailing Arbutus trails…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots and lots of Skunk Cabbage

Dutchman’s breeches

The many shades of Hepatica

Hepatica

Marsh Marigold

Large patch of Marsh Marigold

Purple (Red) Trillium

Blue Cohosh

Wild Ginger

White Trillium in a patch of Wild Ginger

Trout Lily

Coltsfoot

Such a little flower with so many names

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I call it Dog Tooth Lily (Erythronium americanum), but you may call it Yellow Trout-Lily, or simply Trout-Lily, or Dog’s-Tooth Violet, or Eastern Trout-Lily, or Yellow Adder’s Tongue, or Adder’s Tongue, or  Fawn Lily, or Thousand Leaf, or Deer Tongue, or Yellow Snowdrop, or Yellow Adder’s Tongue Lily, or perhaps Yellow Fawn Lily. Nevertheless, it’s simply one of those beautiful flowers that screams “SPRING is here” while you are walking in the woods. dog tooth lily leaves only

There are perfectly good reasons for all those names. If you’re like me and love hiking in the woods, observing the daily changes, at first you see all these little single leaves that appear on the forest floor (ergo Thousand Leaf name). Each day, they get fuller and the green leaves start to develop brownish contrasting pigment that resembles the marking of a Brook Trout, a deer’s tongue or the camouflage coat of a fawn. On the other hand, perhaps another reason to associate it with Trout is that they start to appear the same time as trout season.  Adder’s tongue refers to the appearance of the emerging stamens of the flower, protruding like the tongue of a snake.

The name “dogtooth” refers to the tooth-like shape of the white underground bulb known as a corm, which looks like a dog’s canine tooth. The corms are edible raw and apparently taste like cucumber. This plant is not a violet nor related to violets, so why the name? Well, it’s simple guilt by association ~ since the leaves emerge in the spring at about the same time as the violet, the silly association was made.

Regardless of the name ~ it’s a welcome sight on hike through the woods.dog tooth flower