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Wildflower Wednesday — Fringed Polygala

May 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Polygala_paucifolia

© 2012 Carol Gracie.
Two magenta flowers of fringed polygala are held above
the glossy green leaves of this plant of the forest floor.

 


Fringed Polygala – An Instant Favorite

It’s love at first sight when a hiker catches his first view of the shocking pink flowers of fringed polygala (Polygala paucifolia). Its strangely shaped flowers might fool someone into thinking that this is a member of the orchid family, or perhaps the pea family. No other flower in the Northeast looks quite like it—that is no other flower of its size (ca. 1.5 inches long). The other members of the same genus are so tiny that they require examination with a hand lens to see the detail.

The flaring wings and propeller-like fringe on the flower’s tip give it the appearance of a small magenta airplane. Only by pressing down on the “fuselage” of the flower can you find its reproductive structures. The two sides of the flower that form the forward-pointing portion open up and the stamens and pistil are exposed—just as they would be if a bumblebee were to land on the flower. And, indeed, like many of our spring wildflowers, bumblebees are the principal pollinators of fringed polygala.

Fringed polygala often grows in large colonies and particularly favors mossy sites. A small plant, the contrasting glossy green leaves and pink flowers make a striking ground cover.

Learn more about fringed polygala and other spring wildflowers in Carol Gracie’s book, Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast: A Natural History.

 

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Wildflower Wednesday — Blue Cohosh

May 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Caulophyllum thalictroides

The seed coats of blue cohosh seeds become blue over
a prolonged period from August through September so
that some are always attractive to birds during the
time of fall migration. © 2012 Carol Gracie.

 

Blue Cohosh – A Deceptive Plant

The flowers of blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) don’t attract much notice in spring. They are small and rather dull yellowish-green or purplish-brown. However, they bear looking at with a hand lens to better appreciate their strangely modified, fan-shaped petals that serve as glistening nectaries. The nectaries attract insect pollinators—in this case, various species of flies. What appear to be petals are actually the flower’s sepals.

It is the “fruit” that attracts the eye in late summer and autumn. The term “fruit” is put into quotation marks because what appear to be juicy blue fruits (from which the plant gets its common name) are actually the seeds of the plant with bright blue seed coats. By appearing to be fruits, the seeds appeal to birds at the time of migration, when they need a good source of fuel to continue their southward journey. Birds eat the “fruits,” gaining no energy from them, and excrete them further along their route, thus serving as dispersal agents for the plant.

k9668Read more about blue cohosh and other spring wildflowers in Carol Gracie’s book, Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast: A Natural History.

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Wildflower Wednesday — Miterwort

May 1, 2013 by

Mitella diphylla

The quarter-inch flowers of miterwort resemble floral snowflakes.
This close-up view shows one of the several flowers that are
arranged on an upright stalk arising from a basal rosette
of hairy leaves. © 2012 Carol Gracie

 

Miterwort (Mitella diphylla) – may be one of our most beautiful and least appreciated wildflowers. Because its habitat is deep forest it is noticed by few who venture into the woods in spring, and even when spotted, it requires close inspection with a 10x magnifying hand lens to see its delicate beauty. However, it is well worth getting on one’s hands and knees to do so. The intricate filigree surrounding the tiny, white cup-like flowers gives them the appearance of 5-parted snowflakes.

 

Miterwort is named for the shape of its tiny fruits, said to resemble the hats (miters) worn by bishops of the Catholic Church. Even if the flower stalk bends over, the fruits always orient themselves such that their opening faces upward, thus ensuring that they are in the proper position for their unusual method of seed dispersal. The shiny black seeds are ejected from the fruits by the force of raindrops, a method termed splash-cup dispersal. Depending on the angle and force of the rain, seeds may be splashed up to a meter from the plant.

 

Miterwort will be in flower in the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut area within the next week or two. Look for its thin flower stalks subtended by paired leaves on your next woodland walk.

 

Learn more about miterwort and many other spring wildflowers in Carol Gracie’s book, Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast: A Natural History.

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Wildflower Wednesday — Wild Ginger

April 24, 2013 by

Week 05 Asarum_canadense

 

A beetle’s eye view of a wild ginger
plant showing the interesting flower
prostrate on the ground.

 

Wild ginger – As one might suspect from its common name, wild ginger has been used as substitute for the spice known as ginger, which comes from an entirely unrelated plant. Early colonists were eager to find flavorings to replace those that they knew from home, and the rhizomes of wild ginger filled that need. All one needs to do is scratch the exposed rhizome (an underground stem that is often exposed at the top of the soil) to smell the gingery fragrance. However, research has shown the rhizomes to contain aristolochic acid, a known carcinogen, so this use is no longer recommended.

 

The odd maroon and white flowers of wild ginger lie on the ground, hidden under the heart-shaped fuzzy leaves. They attract few insect visitors, and thus are usually self-pollinated, but the primary method of propagation is vegetatively by the spreading rhizomes. Thus, the plants in a colony of wild ginger are genetically identical and form a clone. Gardeners are fond of wild ginger for use as a ground cover in a shade garden.
 

 

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Wildflower Wednesday — Violets

April 17, 2013 by

Week 04 Viola_rostrata with West VA White butterfly

 

 

A West Virginia White butterfly
visiting a flower of long-spurred
violet (Viola rostrata).

Violets – Almost everyone loves violets and associates them with spring. But violets have played an interesting role in history as well. As a token of his love, Napoleon was known to have presented the Empress Josephine with a bouquet of her favorite sweet-scented violets on each anniversary. However when Josephine had not produced an heir after 13 years of marriage, Napoleon divorced her and married the young Marie Louise, who quickly provided him with a son to carry on his dynasty. When Napoleon died, his locket contained a lock of Josephine’s hair and pressed violets, evidence of his everlasting love. Violets have played a role in local New York history as well. Rhinebeck, NY, on the east bank of the Hudson River was the self-proclaimed City of Violets. At the turn of the last century, when fragrant European violets were all the rage for bouquets and nosegays, unused estate greenhouses were used for the growing of these violets, which were sent by train to Manhattan and to cities beyond.

Violets come in a variety of colors: all shades of lavender through purple, as well as white and yellow. A European species, Viola tricolor, known in this country as Johnny jump up exhibits all three colors. It’s from a cross of two other European violets that the popular garden pansies were developed.

Our native violets are commonly pollinated by an early-flying butterfly known as the West Virginia White, which in the caterpillar stage feeds on members of the cress family including the toothworts.

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Wildflower Wednesday — Early Saxifrage

April 10, 2013 by

Micranthes_virginiensis

A mature plant of early saxifrage growing
on a moss-covered rock cliff. Some of the
basal leaves are still red.

Early Saxifrage – The name “saxifrage,” from the Latin saxum meaning “rock” and frangere, “to break,” was given to members of the genus Saxifraga because many saxifrage species grow in crevices of rock cliffs where they appear to have caused the cracks in the rock. Our own early saxifrage often grows in just such places.

The plant maintains a basal rosette of leaves throughout the winter, the toothed leaves sometimes becoming bright red during that season. In spring the leaves turn green, and the flower buds at the center of the rosette open, first at ground level, and then on ever elongating and branching stems until the plant reaches 15” in height.

Saxifrages, in general, are known for their hardiness, growing in high mountains from the Alps, to the Andes, to the Himalayas. In fact, one saxifrage, Saxifraga oppositifolia, is one of only four plant species to grow in the northernmost place on earth where plants are able to grow, at 83°24’ N on Lockwood Island, off the north coast of Greenland. Recent molecular studies have resulted in almost all species of our eastern North American saxifrages being transferred to the closely related genus Micranthus; thus this species, formerly Saxifraga virginiensis, is now known as Micranthus virginiensis.

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Wildflower Wednesday returns!

March 27, 2013 by

It’s officially spring and soon we’ll all be inundated with wildflowers. Happily we have an expert on hand to provide tips and information–Carol Gracie, author of Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast.

generated by the spadix of skunk cabbage and absorbed by its dark spathe helps to melt the surrounding snow in mid-February.jpg

Skunk Cabbage – Our earliest-blooming spring wildflower doesn’t get the respect it deserves.

Although it may not conform to our stereotypical image of a delicate, pastel-colored spring wildflower, skunk cabbage is a true native wildflower that should be appreciated for brightening our swamps in early spring with both its color and sensuous form, as well as admired for its hardiness. Skunk cabbage not only grows in a difficult habitat—dark, cold swamps—but flowers at a time of year when other plants have not dared to show even the tips of their leaves. In fact, skunk cabbage often begins flowering in mid-February, over a month before the official spring equinox.

The adaptations that skunk cabbage has evolved to survive in these harsh conditions are quite remarkable. Skunk cabbage plants are anchored in the wet, spongy soil by masses of long, tenacious roots that actually expand and contract to hold the plant more securely in the ground, and the flowering structure (the spadix) is actually capable of generating its own heat through the process of respiration. It can maintain a temperature of 68 degrees F even when the ambient temperature is below freezing. The heat is conserved by the thick insulation of the enclosing hood (the spathe) thus hastening the melting of snow surrounding the plant.

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Ring in Spring!

March 20, 2013 by

Spring has officially sprung! Although a bit chilly this morning (at least in Princeton, NJ), the birds are chirping, the sun is shining, the plants are budding, and the earth is humming to the tune of Spring. Today, we can dream of bird songs, buzzing bees, and blooming gardens. We’ve selected a few books to spark your imagination. Click on the images below to learn more:

LovitchSeeleyGibbonsStephensonWhiteGracieGould

cranshaw

crossley

Visit our Birds and Natural History Site to view more field, identification, and photographic guides.

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Wildflower Wednesday — Pink Lady-slipper

June 6, 2012 by

Pink Lady-slipper

 


Photo credit, C Gracie.		 Lady-slipper orchids are perhaps the best known and most loved of all of our native orchids.

Their large, slipper-shaped flowers are curious in shape and devious in the manner in which they manage to get pollinated. Bumblebees must force their way into the slit that bisects the pouch of the flower. Once inside, the slip closes and they are trapped, buzzing around until they see the light from the two small openings at the top of the flower. They must exit via one of these openings, and in doing so, brush against the female stigma, where pollen from a previously visited flower is scraped off and pick up additional pollen from the large anthers that they will transport on to a subsequent flower.

 
For a high-res version of this image, please contact blog@press.princeton.edu.
 

Read more in Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast
by Carol Gracie

Wildflower Wednesday
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Wildflower Wedneday — Jack-in-the-Pulpit

May 30, 2012 by

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

 


Photo credit, C Gracie.		 The imaginative name for this plant comes from the perception of the upright central portion’s resemblance to “Jack,” a preacher, in his leafy, overhanging “pulpit.” The tiny flowers of this species are found at the base of “Jack.”

The flowers of a plant are either male or female, determined primarily by the resources of the plant. Larger plants with two leaves usually have female flowers, since greater resources are needed for a plant to be able to produce fruits and seeds. Jack-in-the-pulpit has the interesting ability to change sexes from one year to the next depending on the stored food available in its underground corm. 

 
For a high-res version of this image, please contact blog@press.princeton.edu.
 

Read more in Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast
by Carol Gracie

Wildflower Wednesday
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Wildflower Wednesday — Painted Trillium

May 23, 2012 by

Painted Trillium

 


Photo credit, C Gracie.		 Of our three most common species of trillium in the Northeast, my favorite is the painted trillium. Its three white petals are strikingly marked with bright magenta chevrons that “bleed” into the veins of the petal. This species prefers colder, damper habitats than both the large-flowered (white) and purple trilliums and, thus, is less commonly seen.

Like many other spring woodland flowers, the seeds of trillium have a fleshy appendage (an elaiosome) that ants find attractive. The ants carry the seeds off to their nests, where they eat the elaiosomes and discard the seeds, thereby dispersing them away from the mother plant.

 
For a high-res version of this image, please contact blog@press.princeton.edu.
 

 

Read more in Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast
by Carol Gracie

Wildflower Wednesday
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Wildflower Wednesday — Mayapple

May 16, 2012 by

Mayapple

 


Photo credit, C Gracie. 		The large, white flowers of Mayapple are hidden under the plant’s large leaves and often overlooked by walkers. The large and attractive flowers are worth searching for to enjoy their beauty. (tip: only Mayapple plants with two leaves produce flowers.)

Mayapple grows in large clonal colonies, usually in moist areas. Their ripe fruits cause them to topple over allowing box turtles to reach the fruits, which they eat and then disperse the seeds. Although toxic, Mayapple and its relatives are a source of compounds important in medicines used in the treatment of various types of cancer.

 
For a high-res version of this image, please contact blog@press.princeton.edu.
 

 

Read more in Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast
by Carol Gracie

Wildflower Wednesday
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