WildeHerb is a collection of wild herb and wildflower sightings.
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
Hepatica was in full bloom this past week. It is so refreshing – and surprising! – to see a beautiful cluster of dainty, pale blue to violet flowers on the otherwise dull forest floor of tan. Oak leaves rustle everywhere you step except the places where animals have worn them down to flakes along their … Read more
Spring has come to South-central PA at last. Flowers will be picking up speed in opening their blooms this week with the forecasted warm weather. In early April the spicebush is one of our first native plants to bloom. Spicebushes full of bright lemony-yellow blooms getting ready to burst open. The first few flowers had … Read more
An early Spring-blooming plant is well into its seed-making time. Most trees are still growing out their leaves now in the middle of May, but the canopy is filling in fast. The Spring Ephemeral we’re talking about is Cut-Leaved Toothwort, or Cutleaf Toothwort, Cardamine concatenata, which Peterson’s Wildflower Guide calls Dentaria laciniata – it’s an … Read more
Yesterday we saw more than a dozen spring flowers in bloom at Little Buffalo State Park. It’s a wonderful time to take the short walk on the Mill Race Trail at the Day Use Area. The Day Use Area at Little Buffalo has picnic tables, a playground, bathrooms, and access to a few trails. On … Read more
We had taken a lovely woods walk to see the Spring wildflowers at Shenk’s Ferry a week ago and Lesser Celandine was one of the new flowers we picked up there. Of course we didn’t actually pick any flowers, I meant it was a new flower to add to my life list. Although it’s just … Read more