They get a touch of it here, and a sparkle or two there. Maybe, for a couple of hours each day, the glorious life-giving glow of the sun finds an opening in the canopy to warm and nourish their leaves, then the rays of light creep away across the forest floor, and it’s shade for the remainder of the day.
The flowering plants which thrive in the understory of the Riparian Woodlands often escape much notice. They gather only a fraction of the daylight collected by species growing in full exposure to the sun. Yet, by season’s end, many produce showy flowers or nourishing fruits of great import to wildlife. While light may be sparingly rationed through the leaves of the tall trees overhead, moisture is nearly always assured in the damp soils of the riverside forest. For these plants, growth is slow, but continuous. And now, it’s show time.
So let’s take a late-summer stroll through the Riparian Woodlands of Conewago Falls, minus the face full of cobwebs, and have a look at some of the strikingly beautiful plants found living in the shadows.
Oxeye (Heliopsis helianthoides) is common on the interior and along the edges of Riparian Woodland. Specimens in deep shade flower less profusely and average less than half the height of the five feet tall inhabitants of edge environs.Pale Touch-Me-Not (Impatiens pallida) is one of two species of native Impatiens foundin the river floodplain. Both are known as Jewelweed. The stems and leaves of the indigenous Impatiens retain a great quantity of water, so life in filtered sunlight is essential to prevent desiccation. Contrary to popular folklore, extracts of Jewelweed plants are not effective treatments of Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) contact dermatitis.Spotted Touch-Me-Not (Impatiens capensis) is typically found in wetter soil than I. pallida. Both Jewelweeds develop popping capsules which help to distribute the seeds of these annual wildflowers. “Touch Me Not”, or you’ll be wearing tiny seeds.Green-headed Coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata) grows to heights of eight feet in full sun, hence its alternate common name, Tall Coneflower. In deep shade, it may not exceed two feet in height. Floodplains are the prime domain of this perennial.Wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia) normally flowers no earlier than late August. The bases of the leaves are continued onto the stem of the plant to form wings which extend downward along its length. This wildflower tolerates shade, but flowers more profusely along the woodland edge.Great Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica), or Great Blue Lobelia, is a magnificent wetland and moist woodland wildflower, usually attaining three feet in height and adorned with a plant-topping spike of blossoms. Invasive Japanese Stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) can be seen here competing with this plant, resulting in a shorter, less productive Lobelia. Stiltgrass was not found in the Susquehanna River floodplain at Conewago Falls until sometime after 1997. It has spread to all areas of woodland shade, its tiny seeds being blown and translocated along roads, mowed lots, trails, and streams to quickly colonize and overtake new ground.American Bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia), a shrub of shaded woods, develops inflated capsules which easily float away during high water to distribute the seeds contained inside.Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) is a shrub of wet soils which produces a strange spherical flower, followed by this globular seed cluster.Common Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is a colony-forming small tree which produces a fleshy fruit. It is the host plant for the caterpillars of the Zebra Swallowtail. The plant and the butterfly approach the northern limit of their geographic range at Conewago Falls.Common Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) is a widespread understory shrub in wet floodplain soils. It is the host plant for the caterpillars of the Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus).Sweet Autumn Virgin’s Bower (Clematis terniflora) is an escape from cultivation which has recently naturalized in the edge areas of the Conewago Falls Riparian Woodlands. This vine is very showy when flowering and producing seed, but can be detrimental to some of the understory shrubs upon which it tends to climb.
SOURCES
Long, David; Ballentine, Noel H.; and Marks, James G., Jr. 1997. Treatment of Poison Ivy/Oak Allergic Contact Dermatitis With an Extract of Jewelweed. American Journal of Contact Dermatitis. 8(3): pp. 150-153.
Newcomb, Lawrence. 1977. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Little, Brown and Company. Boston, Massachusetts.
