Here are five common forest flowers that the average visitor to these environs may easily overlook during an early April visit.
The flowers of the Skunk Cabbage, a native member of the arum family, are contained within a spadix which is partially hidden inside the mottled maroon spathe at the base of the plant. In late winter, the closed spathe generates its own heat to melt through frozen water and soils to make its appearance in streamside and spring-fed wooded wetlands, just ahead of the emergence of the large green leaves.Common Spicebush is a native flowering shrub of damp woodland understories. Later in the season, its foliage provides food for Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillars. Pollinated blossoms yield bright-red oblong berries relished by a variety of birds in fall and winter.The flowers of the indigenous Red Maple will soon generate the familiar helicopter-like winged seeds which readily distribute this native tree into new ground ranging from lowlands to the crests of our highest ridges.Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) is non-native wildflower of Eurasian origin. Reminding one at first glance of a dandelion, it is commonly seen blooming in disturbed areas of woodlands. Coltsfoot often grows where it has little competition from other plants, such as among the debris left behind due to snow plowing and grading along forest roads.Though not particularly abundant, the non-native Sweet Cherry, an escape from cultivation, is widespread in forests and woodlots throughout the lower Susquehanna valley. Sweet Cherry is believed to be an ancestor of the Sour Cherry (Prunus cerasus) and is frequently used as rootstock for orchard and garden varieties of this popular fruit. Sweet Cherry is often called “Wild Cherry”, a name also applied to the Black Cherry, a native tree which blooms later in the spring.
Be certain to get out and enjoy this year’s blooming seasons of our hundreds of varieties of flowering plants. But, particularly when it comes to native species,…
