Early spring is a wondrous time to explore our northern woods. But don’t wait until a blanket of White Trilliums covers the forest floor before venturing out. In mid April, well before the trilliums appear, and the last pockets of snow are succumbing to the warming days, new life has already started.
Perhaps the first flower to bloom is Coltsfoot. It has a showy yellow composite flower resembling Dandelion. The brownish flowering stems are thick and grow about 10 to 20 cm tall from an underground rhizome.
The leaves don’t appear until much later, after the flowers are finished and gone. Early settlers brought Coltsfoot from Europe to North America and it has spread widely to reach the Parry Sound area. When non-native species, called exotics, are introduced they become naturalized only if they fi nd suitable habitat with the right growing conditions. Coltsfoot does well in disturbed areas such as roadsides and plowed fields. Farmers consider them weeds but otherwise they do not appear to threaten or displace any native species. To fi nd Coltsfoot try driving gravel roads through wooded areas and watch the road edges.
If the blooms are present, they will be hard to miss.
Two of our other early native plants, Spring Beauty and Dutchman’s Breeches use energy stored in root corms the previous year to jump-start their rapid spring growth. Energy from the corm powers the growth of new stems, leaves, and fl owers. Then the newly formed leaves, through photosynthesis, capture the sun’s energy to continue the plant’s growth. If small bees and fl ies successfully pollinate the flowers, then seeds begin to form. More of the sun’s energy is then stored in the plant tissues of the seeds and the root corms, in preparation for the next year’s rapid growth. All this happens in just a few weeks before the tree leaves form a canopy overhead, shading plants below. As the trees leaf out, the leaves and stems of these plants – their role in the life cycle ended – wither away and disappear without a trace.
Spring Beauty is among the first flowers to bloom.
The fi ve petals on each fl ower are white with a varying amount of pink streaking. Some are deep pink and very attractive. Scattered in rich woods dominated by maple trees, they grow only a few inches tall, somehow fi nding their way up through the ground layer of brown leaves. Because the plants are scattered and the fl owers are small – about one or two centimeters wide – they could be passed by unnoticed unless one is looking for them. The fl owers open fully on warm sunny spring days when small bees and fl ies are present to pollinate them, and close up in colder or cloudy weather. As the growth cycle nears its end, the mature seeds of Spring Beauty are projected from the capsules. By chance, some may land in a suitable spot to form a new plant the following spring.
Dutchman’s Breeches is a spring ephemeral growing in the rich humus of maple woods. It is often found near granite outcrops. Bare stems with racemes of drooping creamy flowers top attractive grayish green fern-like leaves. The name of the plant originates from the shape of individual fl owers that resemble tiny pantaloons. Interestingly, the seeds of Dutchman’s Breeches are spread by ants that carry them to the nest.
They eat a nutritious part of the seed, and then deposit the rest in the waste area of the nest. In this way the seed, still viable, is provided with ideal growing conditions.
To find Spring Beauty and Dutchman’s Breeches, pick a warm early spring day and look in a mature woods under maples.
Trailing Arbutus is another early spring plant.
It grows as far east as the Atlantic coast and has been the Provincial flower of Nova Scotia since 1901. There it is called the Mayflower, named by early American settlers after the ship that carried them to North America in 1620. They saw it as the fi rst fl ower of spring. It has a trailing habit with shrubby stems, leaves, and flowers close to the ground. The round dark green leathery leaves are evergreen, surviving under snow, living into the following year. In our area it grows in the partial shade of pines in sandy loam soil with lots of decayed leaves. The fragrant waxy white flowers are star-shaped and present for only a short time in early spring. Here in the Parry Sound area it may be the hardest to find of the early spring flowers. Your best bet is to look for the larger round dark green leaves near the ground since the flowers are often partially hidden under them.
Not all Spring Beauties are wildflowers. Keep a sharp eye for a flash of azure, bouncing along over the forest floor. The Spring Azure butterfl y on the wing is a wonderful sight on a warm spring day. As it flies, only brief glimpses are possible of the azure coloured top of the wings. The colour suddenly disappears when the butterfly alights. It almost always closes its wings when resting, and the plain brown spotted pattern of the under wing blends in with the surroundings, making it almost invisible. An accompanying photo shows the blue topside of a free-flying Spring Azure butterfly. This individual, apparently in good health, did not close its wings immediately when it landed, allowing an opportunity for the rare photograph of the blue top of the wing. Another photo shows the cryptic under-wing pattern of the butterfly sitting with wings closed.
Just before the white Trilliums appear, look for red Trilliums. They are much less numerous and less fl ashy than their white relatives but just as interesting. The flower heads are tilted or nodding and their dark maroon colour complements the natural shades of grey, green and brown around them. The large Trillium leaves are able to absorb the sun at lower light levels and provide energy for the berry production into late spring and early summer, long after the blooms have disappeared. Ants also disperse these berries. When white Trilliums begin to fade, their petals turn pale pink before withering away. This has led to the incorrect assumption by some that the fading white Trilliums eventually turn to red Trilliums, when in fact red Trilliums are a separate species. Look for red Trilliums in rich maple woods where you may have seen white Trilliums in the past.
In this article I have mentioned only a few of the highlights waiting to be discovered. Hopefully this brief article will encourage you to explore the woods on the first warm sunny days of early spring to find your own spring beauties.