New Beginnings – The Arrival of Spring

Wisconsin Woods in Spring

Wisconsin Woods in Early Spring © 2015 Bo Mackison

A few weeks into Spring by the calendar and I’m seeing the first hints of green in the woodlands. The forest floor is greening and will soon be a mass of ferns, wildflowers and green ground cover. The early spring forest floor has a brief window of time for its glory. Once the tree canopy shades the ground and the sun no longer than filter through the skeletal branches, the wildflower show will diminish. But for now, we are at the beginning.

Fern Appears

The Ferns Appear © 2015 Bo Mackison

Amidst the leaf litter from last year, green plants and ferns break through the earth and poke above the leaves. I hiked several miles through woodland and admired the hints of green while looking for the first flower of spring (not counting the garden variety flowers nor a few flowering forsythia).

First Wild Flower of Spring - April 11, 2015

First Flower of Spring – Wood Squill © 2015 Bo Mackison

The wood squill  (or Siberian squill) is one of the first of the spring-flowering bulbs to emerge in early spring.  The flower has six “petals” (actually three petals and three sepals) and is less than an inch across. These deep blue flowers will last only few weeks. This was one of the several I saw, the earliest ones to emerge, but soon the scattered parts of the forest floor will be a sea of blue.

 

 

 

 

Trillium, The Giant Woodland Beauty

Large-flowered Trillium

The Grandiflora or Large-leaved Trillium is my favorite Spring woodland wildflower. Not common, but it is easy to spy when you come across a plant. Each specimen can grow up to 18 inches high and each flower is about 3 inches wide.

Grandiflora White Trillium

This is definitely one wildflower that should never be picked or transplanted in the wild. If the leaves are disturbed, the plant often dies, as this is the plant’s food source. In many states, it is illegal to disturb flowers in the Trillium family. The plant can be grown by seed, but it takes approximately 5 to 7 years to bloom.

Wildflower Bonanza

Over the weekend, I spent quite a few hours hiking in area hardwood forests. I took these photographs in Owen Conservation Park in Madison. The ephemeral spring flowers, the ones growing on the forest floor under the trees not yet leafed out, are putting on a big show, though about 3 to 4 weeks later than typical.

Cut-leaved Toothwort

The Cut-leaved Toothwort is one of these ephemeral wildflower; it blooms in the Eastern hardwood forests before the trees’ leaves shade the forest earth. The crisp roots of this plant are said to taste like watercress.

Wild Ginger Wildflower

Wild Ginger blooms spring-early summer in the Northern tier of states from Minnesota to New England. It is hard to see because it lies on the ground at the stalk of the flower and blends in with the earth – this is the first one I have found, though I think they are considered somewhat common. The roots have a fragrance and flavor of ginger, and once were used as a flavoring and to treat colds and coughs.

Bloodroot

The Bloodroot is finally in bloom in the woodlands. The flower is found near the ground, and I moved a huge umbrella of the plant’s foliage to take its photo. I have always seen this bloom in early April and usually the petals of the bloodroot are broader than those seen in this photo. Guess this guy was on a diet! (or maybe he had too much snow!)

Large-flowered Bellwort

The Large-flowered Bellwort has flowers that never really open, they just hang like this. I found huge clumps of these in the ravines of the sun-drenched forest. It grows in the eastern half of Canada and the United States, except for Florida, though it is on a few states’ endangered species lists.

Dutchman's Breeches

I found scads of these Dutchman’s Breeches in the same ravines with the Bellwort and also there were lots of Periwinkles and a few trillium just opening. I love this plant’s name – they do look like a little clothesline of britches for a dozen little men. Folklore says the flower was used in love potions and spells. One of its other names is Little Blue Staggers because it caused cows to stagger in a “drunken’ state when they grazed on too much of the plant as it is toxic. Breeches are found in the eastern half of the US, except for the far south.

Finally – a great weekend, if I minus out the tornado warnings on Friday night, for wildflower catching-up.

Hiker’s Delights

Jack Sticks Out His Tongue

My first Jack of the year. He was poking out of a mass of wild geranium leaves, the geraniums not in flower yet, and I almost missed him. Jack in the Pulpits are a favorite of mine.

Emerging May Apples

And I found a huge field of May Apples just emerging. They should be in full bloom in less than a week, though what I love most about this plant is its foliage as it unfolds. Like a giant yawn when you have to throw your arms out wide, and stretch, too. A white five-petaled flower will tuck itself under the umbrella to complete the show.

One of my readers, Uphilldowndale from northern England, asked about the fruit. I rather forgot it has that fruit-y word, “apple”, in its moniker. For the record, it does have a soft, yellowy kind of fruit which can be eaten, mostly in marmalades, jams, pies, etc., though I’m not personally recommending it for I’ve never tasted it. Supposedly it is sweet and mildly acidic, though one source called it “peculiar”. Has anyone ever had a bite of a May Apple?

[where: Owen Conservation Park]