Flower – Page 7 – wildeherb.com

Hepatica, a Spring Ephemeral Blooming in the Woods of Pennsylvania

August 14, 2012April 10, 2010 by wilde

On March 31st the Round-lobed Hepatica, Hepatica americana, were blooming strong. I counted 13 hepatica plants on the south east quad, west and south of the original found plant at the moss-covered skinny log. I think I may have been in the woods at the right time to see so many plants. All it takes is a little wind for the oak leaves to cover up the hepatica and hide it from us, so make sure to look well among the leaf litter for it.

The previous two days were cloudy, overcast, windy and rainy. The delicate forest flowers must need at least a little sun to coax their blooms out of hiding. After all, they only bloom once in a year and when they do bloom it’s during the time when there are no leaves on the trees.

Leaf buds are pushing a little on a few trees, like the cherry trees and lilacs, but for the most part the scenery is still drab shades of gray and brown accented with flowering forsythia and star magnolia.

Hepatica photos taken 29 March 2010 show the flower buds getting ready to open. Photos in this post – all photos taken 31 March 2010 – show blossoms opening up.

Round-lobed hepatica with white blossoms.

White flowers are opening up on this round-lobed hepatica. It’s an older plant with at least seven leaves and as many flowers. (Click images to see larger view.) Note that the petals are shorter than the bracts under the flower head. Young petals are smaller than the bracts. As the flower matures the sepals get larger until they are about the same length as the bracts.

The Peterson Field Guide to Wildflowers tells us the petals are actually sepals.

Round-lobed hepatica plant with only two leaves and two flowers.

The true colors of the two blossoms above are pale blue. The waxy surface of the leaves can be seen here as a shiny surface.

In real life the flowers were a much deeper blue to purple color, but the sunlight – and a flash on the closeup images – washed out the color. The afternoon sun shone on the hepatica flowers softly, but the images from my little digital Olympus were overexposed. Can’t wait to get a manual everything camera.

Round-lobed hepatica with purple flowers.

Closeup of light purple round-lobed hepatica flowers. This plant grew at the base of a big oak tree, so it was easy to find it again. Use landmarks around you to re-locate plants that you want to observe throughout the year.

Round-lobed hepatica with small upright leaves. Note angular features of small leaves.

This older hepatica plant, as noted by the many leaves and flowers, has a set of smaller, upright leaves. The upright leaves are not rounded on the edges, but rather pointed or angular and about the same size as the flowers.

Closeup of round-lobed hepatica upright leaves.

Closeup of smaller, upright leaves shows they are taller than the flowers. Why are these leaves held upright? Are they young versions of the mature leaves that overwinter or do they have a different purpose? Several of these smaller leaves are deformed or have been nibbled on. Not many of the larger, rounded leaves are so deformed, but there are a few leaves that are torn or damaged that survive from year to year. Perhaps mammals of the forests that browse on the small leaves help to pollinate hepatica.

Round-lobed hepatica with ant on flower.

Here, we see that ants are likely pollinators of round-lobed hepatica. Note the fuzzy appearance of the flower stems and the tight anthers on the cream-colored stamens that stick out like little lights.

Fuzzy stems of round-lobed hepatica flowers.

Flowers don’t all blossom at one time. In the image above there are two fully-developed flowers with their petals held out flat, one flower about to open, two with bent heads and flower stalks almost tall enough, and one with a short flower stalk and tighter flower bud. Note the hairy stems and bracts. The hairs are quite long in places, making the flower heads and stems appear fuzzy.

Leaves are hairy as well. Older leaves may lose some of the hairs, which are not as long as the hairs on the flower stems.

When you’re taking a walk in the woods searching for hepatica and other Spring ephemeral flowers, stop every now and then and scan the leaf litter all around you. Look for any bit of green on the forest floor and if there is a well-rounded edge to the leaf inspect it a little closer.

At times you will find the flower poking its head above the leaf litter while the leaves that have overwintered are still under cover. This has led to some field guides to state that hepatica flowers will appear before the leaves do. Actually, the leaves are there too, just not completely visible.

Round-lobed hepatica flowers with hiding leaf.

Typical view of hepatica with the flowers sticking above the leaf litter and the leaves hidden below the oak leaves.

Round-lobed hepatica with single leaf and flower. — Round-lobed hepatica with single leaf and flower poking out of the leaf litter.

Three bracts underneath the flower heads are either green or maroon, hairy, and rounded at the tips.

Round-lobed hepatica with maroon bracts.

This plant has two flowers in the bud stage and a young opened flower that appears to be supported by the three maroon bracts beneath the open flower head.

Not all hepatica plants were flowering on this day. I suppose they don’t flower each and every year, or perhaps those without flowers had already bloomed. At the most the plants that I saw had two blossoms full out per plant, some had only one or no flower – at that particular time. A couple plants had already flowered and dropped their petals, while more blossoms are yet to fill out.

Heat Pushes Hepatica Plants to Bloom Early

August 14, 2012April 9, 2010 by wilde

The weather has been unusually warm for much of the US East Coast for the past week. The heat continued to rise to 25 degrees or more over the average for this time of the year, which is about 58 degrees. In Millerstown, PA high temperature records of 85, 89 and 89 degrees were set on April 5, 6 and 7. Yesterday, we tied the record at 86 degrees. Then the cold front came through.

It was a fast storm that reset the temperatures down to normal. Winds blew gusty, lightning hit all around us, the power flicked on and off a few times, and finally a soft rain cooled everything off.

The sunny and warmer than usual weather has pushed vegetation growth and flower blooming much faster than normal. Plants grow and flower according to the amount of sunlight received and temperatures experienced. So, it is a combination of warmth and light that will indicate to a plant that the time is right for flowering, or fruiting for that matter.

Higher temperatures will speed up plant growth and as a result the time of flowering can arrive sooner. The opposite may happen during colder than normal temperatures where growth is slowed and blooming delayed.

Additionally, some plants are not sensitive to the amount of light available, so sunlight is not a factor in their blooming time. These plants are called photoperiod-insensitive plants.

A woodland plant blooming earlier in 2010 is Hepatica. We know that hepatica, one of my favorite woodland plants, blooms in very early Spring, before the trees leaf out. That means that hepatica will bloom in Pennsylvania sometime in April, depending also on latitude and elevation. Will weather conditions, which are very quick to change this time of year, dictate the blooming times of hepatica? It seems so, considering that in 2010, with record-breaking high temperatures, we have observed hepatica and other plants blooming much earlier.

Prior articles on wildeherb.com contain some photos that illustrate the early blooming. In 2007 hepatica was photographed blooming on 21 April. In 2006 hepatica blooms were photographed on the 11th and the 19th of April. In 2010 hepatica is just about done blooming in the first week of April.

Many other plants are also flowering earlier this year. All the plants photographed in the wildeherb links above are blooming now or just past blooming. For instance, the star magnolia has leaves developed already and maybe two blossoms are still hanging on one limb. All the other flower petals have fallen to the ground. Yet, in 2006 the same star magnolia tree was in full bloom on April 11 and no leaves had yet developed.

Tulips, peach trees, ferns, dandelions, and violets all seem to be at about the same development stage now (April 9, 2010) as shown in the April 19, 2006 photos. The one exception is cinquefoil. Its flowers have yet to appear, so perhaps their blooming is dictated more by the available sunlight instead of the prevailing temperatures. A photoperiod-sensitive plant, perhaps.

If the old weather data could be matched up to the images, we might actually be able to document temperature-dependent blooming times. It would be interesting to find out which of the Spring ephemerals are more keyed to temperature than sunlight. That might make it possible to go into the woods at the right times to spy on them!

On a grander scale there are implications here regarding global warming. It’s been documented that blooming has been occurring earlier in the year in some places and for years now. Some are worried that the insects and other pollinators for the early blooming plants might not be in the proper areas to perform their pollinating service at the right time. Insects slumber, birds and bats migrate. During early spring if the plants get way ahead of the pollinators, it could spell disaster for future generations of plants.

At the extreme this raises the question of possible plant extinction due to climate change. Without pollinators in the scenario, these flowering plants won’t be able to reproduce by seed.

To lend credence to these observations, it’s already been documented that plant life-cycles can be disrupted by a changing climate.

Flowers bloom earlier as UK warms (news.bbc.co.uk)
Plants flower five days earlier for every degree of global warming (telegraph.co.uk)

Yellow Coltsfoot Blooms and Hoof-shaped Leaves

August 14, 2012April 8, 2010 by wilde

Coltsfoot is still blooming in places along roadsides in Pennsylvania. Coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara, could be considered a Spring Ephemeral flower, but that term is usually reserved for woodland flowers that have a very short life cycle with a narrow window to bloom.

The Spring Ephemerals only receive enough sunlight to bloom after it gets warm enough in late winter and early spring up until the time when the trees develop their leaves. Once the forest canopy is filled in not enough light gets to the forest floor for these small herbaceous plants to continue flowering.

Typically, you’ll see coltsfoot along the road or trail side where it can get enough sunlight to develop its leaves. The leaves will stick around for most of the summer, so the life-cycle for coltsfoot is too long for it to be considered a true Spring ephemeral, but it does bloom in very early Spring, when the ephemeral flowers are blooming. Coltsfoot is a perennial that will return year after year. (Photos taken 1 April 2010.)

coltsfoot flower heads lifting up to the sun

Note that some of the flower heads are stilled bowed down from the night. These flower heads will also rise up once they receive enough sun.

coltsfoot blooms open with the sunlight — The left photo shows coltsfoot flowers closed in the late afternoon and the right photo shows the same blossoms opening up in the morning sunshine.

Coltsfoot leaves growing by April 1. Note the red-circled areas that highlight the hoof-shaped leaves.

coltsfoot flower heads open and closed — Coltsfoot flower heads open and closed. Note the very narrow ray flowers, maroon cast to scales on flower stems, and bowed heads of closed blossoms.

Hepatica, a Spring Ephemeral in Hardwood Forests

August 14, 2012March 30, 2010 by wilde

Here’s a spring blooming plant that you won’t see unless you go into the woods during early Spring, called hepatica. Hepatica americana can be found among the leaf litter beneath the trees of oak-hickory-maple forests.

We see the flowers here in Pennsylvania during the last part of March through the first half of April. Hepatica is one of the Spring Ephemeral flowers, only blooming for a short time in early spring before the trees leaf out.

Native to forests of Eastern North America, hepatica is a perennial with some medicinal properties. The Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants indicates that hepatica was highly sought after in the late 1800s for its revered ability to soothe the liver. A liver tonic craze saw tons of hepatica harvested here and abroad. A common nickname for hepatica is liverleaf.

Native Americans made a leaf tea for liver and digestive ailments. Folk tradition used hepatica tea for coughs and fevers, also. We don’t harvest it for anything, we just appreciate it being there!

Taking a walk in the woods, you’ll first be able to spot the dark green, shiny leaves, or the rounded edge of a leaf. Moving a few leaves aside will uncover the thick, waxy clover-shaped leaves.

Round-lobed hepatica getting ready to bloom.

When the leaves are new they arise in an erect posture. Once the leaves grow to full size – a couple inches or more across, the flower stem relaxes so that the large rounded leaves lie prostrate to the ground. Most often you’ll see the larger, older leaves that overwinter still hiding among the leaf litter when the flowers are present.

Angular-shaped leaves of hepatica. — Small angular-shaped leaves of hepatica.

The young leaves also have a more angular shape than the mickey mouse ears of the older leaves. Leaves and stems are fuzzy with hairs when young and lose the hairs at some point.

Fuzzy, hairy stalks of young leaves and flowers of hepatica.

The pastel flowers sort of jump out at you when you finally see one. The purple, blue, pink or white petals are so perfect, in symmetry with the white stamens. The colorful petals are actually sepals. Green bracts underneath the flower head are rounded or pointed, depending on the kind of hepatica.

Single blue hepatica flower open with round-lobed leaves.

Hepatica flowers are delicate and easily beaten down by wind and rain. Truly ephemeral. Great hepatica images from the US Forest Service.

Sharp-lobed hepatica, H. acutiloba, has pointed, tri-lobed leaves and bracts. Round-lobed hepatica, H. americana, has rounded lobes on its leaves and bracts. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service classifies these two hepaticas as varieties of one species, Hepatica nobilus, with the sharp-lobed variety as H. nobilus var. acuta, and the round-lobed variety as H. nobilus var obtusa.

In the vicinity or same microhabitat of the hepatica plants pictured here, we find downy rattlesnake plantain, a member of the Orchid family. Its perennial, cross-veined leaves are hiding among the leaf litter, but they can be found all over the north- and west-facing hillsides. At this time of the year you have to know where look for it and move leaves aside to see it. Rattlesnake plantain is easier to spot in the summertime when there is less leaf litter.

First Blooming Yard Weed Pennsylvania Bittercress

August 14, 2012March 29, 2010 by wilde

I’ve mentioned before that Pennsylvania Bittercress, Cardamine pensylvanica, is already blooming. We saw it first blooming on March 19th, but I suspect the first flowers can be found blooming even earlier. (Photos taken 25 March 2010.)

How do you know that it’s Pennsylvania bittercress? The characteristics that identify it include the shape and arrangement of both leaves and flowers, as well as the very early blooming time. The Peterson Field Guide to Wildflowers states that it will bloom from April to June and that it can be found “nearly throughout” the Northeastern and North-Central United States.

Blooming time alone can’t identify a flowering plant, but it can help eliminate other possibilities from a tentative list. Some plants like dandelion will bloom periodically through out the year, so the time of blooming is not always helpful in identifying a plant. Other flowers will bloom in defined periods which does help in plant identification. For example, skunk cabbage blooms in late winter, sunflowers bloom in the summer, and goldenrods bloom in autumn.

The early Spring blooming of PA Bittercress heralds in the warmer weather. Still, there’s cold weather and possibly snow to fall yet at this time of year, but the little flowers of this member of the mustard family produces seed so fast that it will surely come back next year – even if the mother plant were to be frozen out by extreme March weather.

Take a look at the seeds already produced, near the flower clusters. The seed pods are thin and erect, surrounding the flowers at the tops of the stems. When the seeds have matured, brushing past the plant will forcefully eject the seeds from their pods. Pulling up the plant will also disperse the seeds, so there’s no use trying to make the lawn free of this prolific weed.

The white, four-petaled flowers are small, measuring less than 1/4 inch, but borne in clusters of 4, 5 or more. Here’s a photo looking down on a cluster of 4 flowers —

Pennsylvania bittercress flower cluster and compound leaf

The rounded basal leaflets are in pairs with the terminal leaflet being slightly longer. Leaflets are narrower and less round on the compound leaves found higher up on the plant.

This Cardamine species, Pennsylvania bittercress, is found in moist areas, near springs or roadside ditches, and in lawns.

Red-flowering Maple Trees

August 14, 2012March 28, 2010 by wilde

Red-flowering maple trees are one of the signs of spring that I look forward to seeing each year. The maple flowers give a red tint to the hills around us in the mountain ridges. We have a kind of love-hate relationship. Love their pretty look and signaling of warmer weather to come, hate their pollen. It’s probably a source of dripping noses and itchy eyes for many of us. Tree pollen is very high at the moment.

Looking at the woods we still see deeper into the woods than we’ll be able to in a couple weeks. Without the leaves full out on the trees we can see farther among the trees. Right now our house seems like we have a lot of room around us — it sits in a clearing of the forest. When the trees are leafed in, it will feel a little closed in at first. Kinda claustrophobic until we get used to the new look. Then, when winter comes again we’ll feel a little bare.

Barren trees belie their current state of activity. The sap is flowing and they are getting ready to burst forth with greenery.

Barren trees on a ridge top in the mountains of Pennsylvania.

Note that you can see through the trees all the way over to the next hill. Green showing in the lower part of the picture is from the white pines.

Most trees are bare of leaves, but the maples are sprouting their red flowers.

Flowering maple tree against the pale blue March sky.

Take a closer look at the flower. It has many long stamens that gives the maple blossom a bushy or fluffy appearance. I just love the deep red color, though!

One neat thing is that the flowers appear before the leaves do. I guess that happens with quite a few trees, but the maples are the first to sprout some color.

Crocus Blooms Open Up with the Sunlight

August 14, 2012March 23, 2010 by wilde

We planted a few sets of crocus bulbs three years ago and now the area they occupy has at least double, probably triple, the amount of crocus bulbs we started with. That’s one thing to like about bulbs…they multiply over the years to make for really colorful patches in your flower beds or lawn. To keep up the expansion of color going, dig up the bulbs in the fall and spread them out for an even more beautiful display the following spring!

Crocuses are probably favorites of many people by virtue of their early blooming time in the Spring. Since they are among the very first ones to flower it sort of makes you feel like winter is over and that spring is really here when you do see the crocuses coming out of hiding.

The time of day will make all the difference as to what kind of display you’ll see. If you are viewing the crocus flowers in the early morning, say before going to work in the a.m., you’ll likely see the flowers closed up. After nightfall, the crocus flower petals all relax into the center of the bloom and remain closed until the next day’s sunlight nudges them open.