Category: Blackhaw

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Six Flowering Woody Plants

Here’s a look at six native shrubs and trees you can find blooming along forest edges in the lower Susquehanna valley right now.

Black Locust
The Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), a member of the pea or legume family (Fabaceae), can be a dominant pioneer plant of sunny successional habitats, particularly on poor soils.  Nodules along its roots fix nitrogen to help facilitate the growth of the intermediate and climax species of trees and shrubs that replace the pioneers.  Initially armed with protective spines to reduce browsing, the Black Locust’s branches become mostly thornless as the tree matures.
Pinxter Flower
The Pinxter Flower, also known as the Pink Azalea, is certainly a contender for our most spectacular native blossoming shrub;…
Spicebush Swallowtail on Pinxter Flower
…this Spicebush Swallowtail seems to like it too.
Black Cherry
When in bloom, the Black Cherry is a common sight in regional woodlands.  Often seen already covered with blossoms when young and shrub-like, many of these trees will continue flowering and producing fruit throughout the decades required to reach a mature height of 60 feet or more.
Blackhaw
The Blackhaw is an understory shrub preferential to sun-dappled areas beneath a break in the forest canopy.  Pollinated flowers later produce clusters of blue-black berries for birds and other wildlife.
Common Pawpaw
It’s easy to overlook the flowers of the Common Pawpaw.  By the time the leaves are fully emerged and casting shade, blooming time is over.
Flowering Dogwood
Nowadays, the Flowering Dogwood is most frequently encountered as a transplanted cultivar in city and suburban landscapes.  In the wild, it is sparingly distributed throughout the region’s deciduous forests.  These slow-growing little trees produce bright red berries that are quickly seized by a variety of birds upon ripening in the fall.

Local old timers might remember hearing folklore that equates the northward advance of the blooming of the Flowering Dogwoods with the progress of the American Shad’s spring spawning run up the river.  While this is hardly a scientific proclamation, it is likely predicated on what had been some rather consistent observation prior to the construction of the lower Susquehanna’s hydroelectric dams.  In fact, we’ve found it to be a useful way to remind us that it’s time for a trip to the river shoreline below Conowingo Dam to witness signs of the spring fish migration each year.  We’re headed that way now and will summarize our sightings for you in days to come.

Flowering Dogwood
Tree blossoms open in response to the presence of adequate moisture and exposure to the warming effects of sunshine.  Shad ascend the Susquehanna to spawn in response to suitable river flow and increasing water temperature.  Sun and rain in the appropriate proportions can often conspire to synchronize otherwise unrelated events.  Hence, a Flowering Dogwood in bloom along the edge of a mature forest means it’s time to go check out the shad run.
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Mother’s Day Flowers

Let’s have a look at some of the magnificent native wildflowers blooming on this Mother’s Day in forests and thickets throughout the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed.

Rue Anemone
Rue Anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides) is a fragile little wildflower of open woods.
Blackhaw
The Blackhaw (Viburnum prunifolium) is a shrub of thickets and forest borders. The flower clusters mature into an abundance of berries relished by birds and other wildlife.
Black Cherry
A large Black Cherry tree adorned in white blossoms can be pleasing to the eye and very beneficial for pollinating insects.
Common Pawpaw
The Common Pawpaw is a small tree of damp well-drained soils.  Where conditions are ideal, it may form clonal colonies in the forest understory.  The deep maroon blooms mature into banana-like fruits, hence its alternate common name “Custard Apple”.
Mayapple
The Mayapple or Mandrake (Podophyllum peltatum) commonly blankets the forest floor.  It, like other ephemeral wildflowers, is vulnerable to invasions by non-native shrubs that leaf out earlier in spring than native species and rob them of sunlight during their already abbreviated growing season.

Aren’t they spectacular?

Why not take a stroll to have a look at these and other plants you can find growing along a nearby woodland trail?  You could check out some place new and get a little exercise too!

If you go, please tread lightly, take your camera, mind your manners, and…

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