The Box Huckleberry Natural Area in New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania has more than one special plant flowering in April.
The Box Huckleberry, Gaylussacia brachycera, continues to bloom with many white, bell-shaped blossoms opening up to the warmth of the day.
Evergreen oval leaves and white blooms of Box Huckleberry.
White blueberry-like flowers on the New Bloomfield Box Huckleberry.
The huckleberry blooms are pink in the bud stage and white as they mature.
Box huckleberry flowers in white and pink.The oldest blooms have fallen away while others still flower.
They don’t all bloom at once. Note in the image above, taken 18 April 2010, that several blossoms have already fallen away, yet there are still many flowers blooming.
Lots of fresh huckleberry flowers at the tips of the stems.Mass blooming of box huckleberry plant.
A couple weeks later, 30 April 2010, there were still a few flowering huckleberries, but most had already flowered. Little green berries could be seen at the tips on some stems.
Flowers and tiny green berries of box huckleberry.
Green huckleberries at the tip of the stem show that these blossoms flowered first, even though the plant is still flowering further up the stem. (Photo taken 30 April 2010.)
The Box Huckleberry propagates via growth of lateral shoots.
Huckleberry new growth arises from projections along older stems. (Photo taken 30 April 2010.)
Lateral growth of new shoots of the box huckleberry plant.
New light green foliage grows vertically from many places along a single stem. (Photo taken 30 April 2010.)
Continuing down the trail I had a nice surprise when I saw a Pink Lady’s-Slipper, Cypripedium acaule. Since I was so focused on the box huckleberry plant, the lady slipper practically jumped out at me. The shape and color were so different from the evergreen ovals of the huckleberry.
A young pink lady slipper orchid also known as the moccasin flower.
An orchid known as Pink Lady’s Slipper or Moccasin Flower due to its pouch-like flower. Stay tuned for photos of pink ladys slippers.
Even though we have seen the pink lady’s slipper flowering on the mountain ridges in this area, I was delighted to see this pretty orchid here in a protected forest setting.
Golden Ragwort, Senecio aureus, is a small aster-like wildflower in the daisy family. Ragworts bloom earlier in the year than other yellow-flowered daisies, so you won’t get it mixed up with other yellow flowers.
Golden ragwort is differentiated from other members of the genus Senecio by its leaves.
Heart-shaped basal leaves of golden ragwort.
Colony of golden ragwort growing in gravel next to a small creek. Note the heart-shaped basal leaves.
Golden ragwort leaves and stalks.
The outside of the flower heads are a deep purple color as are the stems.
Golden ragwort flower stalks rise over a foot tall.
Flower stalks rise up and hold the flower heads some 12 to 20 inches above the leaves and even higher when the flowers are in bloom. My walking stick is marked off in inch increments. The top black section measures 20 inches from the ground. (Photo directly above and the remaining photos were taken 30 April 2010. The first two photos were taken 18 April 2010.)
Rounded basal leaves of golden ragwort.
Leaves at the bottom of the stems are rounded or heart-shaped with rounded teeth.
Toothed upper leaves of golden ragwort are narrow and divided.
Leaves higher up the stems are cut or dissected and they get more narrow, but they retain the rounded teeth. Leaves right below the flower heads are very narrow and more finely cut.
Golden ragwort flower head.
Note the purple outsides of the flower heads before the golden ragwort blooms.
Golden ragwort blooming.
Half of the golden ragwort flowers are open.
Looking down on the golden ragwort flowers.
Golden yellow rays are sparsely situated around the center disc flowers in this composite flower.
Another golden ragwort plant blooming by the creek.
Habitat for golden ragwort includes wetland areas, like that found next to this creek. The Peterson Wildflower Guide states that swamps and wet meadows are other likely places to find Golden Ragwort.
The Middle Ridge Trail at Little Buffalo State Park is marked with red blazes. It’s a difficult trail because of the steep terrain in some places.
Fewer people travel this path as noted by the width of the trail. Perhaps that’s because the level of difficulty or the fact this area of the park is open to hunting. Maybe it’s location on the north side of the park is too far from the popular Day Use Area. That’s too bad as one wild flower blooms here that many people may not get to see elsewhere in the park – Early Saxifrage, Saxifraga virginiensis.
West end of the Middle Ridge Trail at Little Buffalo State Park in Newport, PA.
Early saxifrage was plentiful on the west end of the Middle Ridge Trail.
Lots of Early Saxifrage on the Middle Ridge Trail.
Nearly all the white flowers on the west-facing slope in the image above are Early Saxifrage.
Star-like blossoms of early saxifrage.
Clusters of early saxifrage flowers have a star-like appearance.
The upper left cluster in the image above shows the branching of the flower cluster and the woolly flower stem. The flower stalks may reach 10 to 16 inches tall.
Leaves of early saxifrage are mostly basal ones. Very small lance-like stem leaves may or may not be present. The oval basal leaves have scalloped edges. In the image below you can see the flower stalks rising up from the group of basal leaves.
Scalloped basal leaves of early saxifrage.
Note that the flower stalks are hairy or fuzzy with hairs.
Flowers of early saxifrage occur in clusters at the top of the flower stem. The five-petaled white flowers are small, only a quarter-inch in width. Small yellow-tipped stamens are visible inside the flower heads.
Flowers of early saxifrage on flower stalk.
Blossoms are at the tip of the flower stalk that rises up from the basal leaves. Note in the image above that there is one stem leaf at the point where a secondary flower stem branches from the main flower stem.
Besides the western end of Middle Ridge Trail at Little Buffalo State Park, we’ve seen Early Saxifrage on wooded hillsides along country roads.
Cohorts included blooming spring beauty, rue anemone, fairy wings, ferns and hepatica (already bloomed).
Spring beauty and early saxifrage blooming together.
Spring beauty was blooming at the same time and place as Early Saxifrage.
Early saxifrage and rue anemone blooming at the same time.
Rue anemone was blooming at the same time and place as Early Saxifrage.
Early Saxifrage bloomed at least from the 15th to the 23rd of April in south-central Pennsylvania.
It’s mid-Spring now and the assembly of plants in the woodlands have made the scenery quite green compared to a month ago. The trees are leafed in for the most part, although a few oaks still have small leaves. Shade is dappled under the trees that don’t have all their leaves emerged just yet.
Walking in the woods now has a different feeling. Sure, there are still plenty of crunchy leaves to trod upon, but the view is quite different. With all the trees, shrubs, vines and herbs growing up and pushing their leaves out, the woods have a closed-in feeling. It feels like there is less room in there compared to a few weeks ago when you could see all the way through the woods.
Since each season is about three months long, we can say that each season has an early, middle and late period with each period lasting about a month.
During early spring Wild Ginger, Asarum canadense, emerged from the ground with their leaves a bit crinkled. Wild Ginger is a woodland perennial native to the Eastern US. Its leaves rise up from an underground stem, or rhizome, and the plant spreads out from this rhizome each year. It’s blossoms should be visible during mid-Spring.
Colony of wild ginger growing next to a creek.
The rounded, heart-shaped leaves of wild ginger rise up in pairs from the rhizome. Two leaves are connected to each other in a Y-shape.
Wild ginger spreads out and makes a nice ground cover with its leaves reaching a height of only 4 to 10 inches. A patch of wild ginger is eye-catching in a native plant garden.
Flowers of wild ginger must be sought out or you’ll never see them. The leaves hide the flowers out of sight and the flowers are not where you might expect them – at ground level. Sometimes the flowers don’t even push out of the ground all the way and remain partially covered by a layer of soil or old leaves. There is a single blossom that sits in the crotch of each pair of leaves.
A pair of wild ginger leaves and one flower.
The two leaves of wild ginger often hide its single maroon to brown blossom from view.
Wild ginger blooms are cup-shaped with three lobes giving it a triangular appearance. The flower stalk and flower are covered with hairs that make it look quite fuzzy. The flowers are light-colored on the outside with a maroon interior. They must be pollinated by ants or some other ground-wandering insect.
Front view of wild ginger flower.Note the soft hairs all over the leaves of wild ginger.
Looking down on the heart-shaped leaves and maroon flower of wild ginger.
Hairy wild ginger blossom.
Wild ginger flowers are coated with long hairs. The leaves and stems are covered with short hairs.
Wild ginger plant growing at the edge of a creek.
The flower of wild ginger rises out of the crotch of two leaves.
Wild ginger requires a moist to wetland, woodland habitat. Places like the edges or lowlands of creeks or rivers are good places to look for wild ginger.
Photos were taken 18Apr2010 at Little Buffalo State Park. Wild ginger can be seen in many places in the Day Use Area, near the covered bridge, along the Mill Race Trail, and at the upper west end of Middle Ridge Trail.
A few years ago I bought a wild ginger plant at a Native Plant Sale and planted it on the east side of our house, right next to the house in an area that receives mostly shade. Each year the ginger has come up a little bigger than the year before. This year there are seven pairs of leaves.
If you are lucky enough to find wild ginger for sale try planting it under a tree to mimic its native habitat. It would make a nice ground cover and at the same time it would receive the shade it requires to thrive.
Miterwort is a wildflower that I’d heard of or read about, but hadn’t seen in real life until this Spring. Also called Bishop’s Cap, Mitella diphylla, miterwort can be found in lowlands and habitats near water.
The leaf structure and flowers are unique enough that miterwort should be immediately recognized.
Miterwort has two types of leaves, basal and stem. Basal leaves are broader than the pair of stem leaves that sit about halfway up the flower stalk. Both types of leaves are notched and might remind one of a maple leaf. The stem leaves, which do not have stems of their own, but rather appear attached to each other at their bases, are a distinguishing feature.
Miterwort flower spike, basal leaves and conjoined stem leaves.
The image above shows a couple larger basal leaves and stem leaves that are joined at their bases where they meet the flower stems.
Stem leaves of miterwort are paired and joined at the base.
The tiny, cream-colored flowers sit above the leaves on a flower stem that may reach 12 inches tall.
Miterwort flowers creekside.Big tree made a nice background for these miterwort.
Cohorts include the common blue violet, wild ginger, Solomon’s seal (not yet in bloom), trout lily (done blooming), ferns.
Flowers of miterwort are small, but beautifully fringed giving the appearance of a snowflake. Some say the appearance is like that of a miter, or Bishop’s Cap, thus the common name. A plant that I think resembles a miter much better is this desert cactus.
Tiny, snowflake-like flowers of miterwort.
Snowflakes seen in close-up view of miterwort flowers. (Last photo taken 30Apr2010, all others taken 18Apr2010.)
Spring ephemerals are the hit of the season right now. For the past few weeks they have taken turns blooming in the eastern forests of North America.
One such Spring Ephemeral is Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Arisema bulbosa. A unique and irregular flower, Jack-in-the-Pulpit can be found in moist and wetland areas, such as lowlands, river bottoms, creeks and drainage areas.
Creek at the location of Jack-in-the-Pulpits.
Creek side habitat where Jack-in-the-Pulpit can be found. Cohorts included Miterwort, Wild Ginger and Spring Beauty.
Jack-in-the-Pulpit.
The flower is actually a colonial one with an odd construction. the flowers are covered from view inside the spathe, which is the outer cup-shape that has a striped hood. Many small yellow flowers cover the bat-shaped spadix that sits in the spathe. The spathe protects the group of flowers on the spadix.
The spathe is streaked with brown to maroon lines, the top of which forms a hood over the club-like spadix. In the image above you can see two of three leaflets of the compound basal leaf. Young Jack-in-the-Pulpit.
The spathe in the image above is marked with light green lines. The plants without brown or maroon markings appear to be smaller, perhaps younger ones.
Spadix inside the brown spathe.
A closer look at Jack, the club-like spadix.
Jack-in-the-Pulpit is so named because the spadix (Jack) appears to stand inside the spathe (pulpit) in just a way that preacher might stand in a pulpit.
Jack-in-the-Pulpit emerges from the ground with fully formed leaves. The leaves emerge rolled up and folded. A single, basal compound leaf is usually present that gets to be about a foot tall. Three leaflets are oval in shape and come to a point. One leaflet points up and the other two point down so the leaf appears to be triangular. Small basal leaves, a few inches tall, may also be present. The flower stem arises separately from the leaf stalk.
Jack-in-the-Pulpit leaves and flowers emerging from the ground.
Note the wrapped up look to the leaves of Jack-in-the-Pulpit.
When you see new plants from different angles it helps to illustrate the true structure and dimensions of what you’re inspecting.
The top of Jack-in-the-Pulpit.
Looking down on a Jack-in-the-Pulpit plant you can see three basal leaves in threes and one spathe in the center of the three compound leaves. Other plants growing in the same habitat include ferns and other allies that need moist conditions.
Looking at Jack-in-the-Pulpit from the side.
In this sideview of Jack-in-the-Pulpit, photo taken 30Apr2010, you can see that Jack’s head doesn’t touch the hood of the spathe. Note that the round or heart-shaped leaf on the left is wild ginger.
These photographs of Jack-in-the-Pulpit were taken at Little Buffalo State Park, Newport, Pennsylvania. All other photos taken 18Apr2010.
Spring beauty, Claytonia virginica, is one of the first Spring Ephemeral flowers that I learned to recognize. It is a dainty little flower with five petals and stamens. The anthers at the tips of the stamens are pink, which seems to add to its delicate nature.
Loose clusters of Spring Beauty flowers.
The loose clusters of spring beauty flowers may have one or more open blossoms and several other blossoms hanging down that are either spent or have yet to bloom.
Blooms of spring beauty. Note the pair of linear leaves on each plant.
Blossoms have five white rounded petals, many that have gray to pinkish lines, like the flowers in the image above. The whole flower may have a tinge of pink in addition to the pink anthers at the top of the five stamens.
Locally plentiful!
Colony of flowering spring beauty.
Spring beauty can be found blooming en masse from middle to late April in central Pennsylvania. The dandelion was included in the image above for scale.
Group of spring beauties blooming at the base of a big tree.
(Click on any of the images to see a larger view.)
Spring beauty flowers opening up for the day.
Spring beauty gets about as tall as the grass and its linear leaves help to hide it among the grass. The flowers in the image above seemed to be coming out of hiding as they started to bloom for the day. Their blossoms weren’t all the way open, yet. Note the pink anthers and lines on the petals in these loose clusters of spring beauties.
Photos of this common spring ephemeral flower above were taken 18Apr2010 at Little Buffalo State Park near the covered bridge.
Beautiful grouping of Spring Beauty blooming in the grass.
I was a little surprised to see it still flowering a couple weeks later. The above photo was taken 30Apr2010 in the same area. That makes the little spring beauty one of the longest lasting spring ephemeral flowers that I’ve ever seen.
The bright yellow roadside flowers of Coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara, have long faded away for another year. This Spring Coltsfoot bloomed during the last two weeks of March and the first week of April in South-Central Pennsylvania.
The yellow composite flowers remind one of dandelions, and so do the seed heads. After the flowers are visited by their pollinators the flowers produce their seeds in round heads, just like a dandelion, although the seed heads may be more compact in shape and not quite as round.
Dandelion-like seed heads of coltsfoot flowers.
All it takes is a gust of wind or physical disturbance from a passerby to disperse the seeds of Coltsfoot. (Photo taken 18Apr2010.)
The fluffy seed head will stand easily a foot tall, so they are usually taller than dandelion seed heads that so many people hate to see in their lawns.
The hoof-shaped leaves of Coltsfoot will continue to grow throughout the spring and summer until they are quite large, even larger than your hand.
Coltsfoot seed head and leaves.
Seed heads and leaves of Coltsfoot. Photo taken 2May2010.
Dandelion seed head and leaves.
Dandelion seed heads are completely spherical and their jagged leaves are easy to spot. Photo taken 2May2010.
Because they have very different leaf shapes no one should mistake dandelion for coltsfoot should they be interested in collecting seeds for their own dispersal.
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states that swamps and wet meadows are other likely places to find Golden Ragwort.
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