Spring Ephemerals Part 2

Perfoliate Bellwort (Uvularia perfoliata).  A spring ephemeral flowering in

Rowan County, NC in April

The trees are leafing out, the canopy is nearly closed and the understory is greening.  This means the spring ephemeral flowering season is drawing to a close.  Spring ephemerals are small plants that grow on the forest floor and flower early to complete their life cycle in the spring of the year.

A deciduous forest in Rowan County, NC during March.
The canopy is open and the spring ephemerals
are starting to flower,

The same forest in mid-April.  The tree canopy nearly
blocks the sky, the shrub layer is greening up and the light intensity is much lower
than in March.  April means the spring ephemerals are finishing up.  

One of the most visible spring ephemeral in the Southeast is Trillium cuneatum or Little Sweet Betsy.  Trillium cuneatum is a perennial and emerges early in spring bearing three mottled, green leaves and a dark purple, three parted flower.  This flower is pollinated by bees and produces a single purple berry.  Trillium cuneatum is found in the Mountains and Piedmont of the Southeast and extends into Illinois and Pennsylvania.

Trillium cuneatum with is mottled leaves and an unopened flower bud.
Rowan County, NC.

Another view of the plant above showing the
large size of the flower bud.

Trillium cuneatum with open flower.

Windflower (Thalictrum thalictrodes) is a member of the Ranunculus family along with buttercups, hepaticas and columbines.  Windflower flowers are delicate, white and odd.  The flowers lack petals but instead have 5-10 white sepals that play the role of attracting early spring pollinators.   The leaves of Windflower are compound with three leaflets.  Thalictrum thalictrodes grows on the Piedmont and Mountains of North Carolina and throughout the eastern United States.

A Windflower plant (Thalictrum thalictoides) showing its compound leaves
and white flowers with variable numbers of white sepals. Davidson County, NC.

A closeup of a Windflower flower.  Note the multiple sepals and stamens.  Each
stamen has a yellow, pollen-bearing anther.  Davidson County, NC.   

Perfoliate Bellwort (Uvularia perfoliata), found in the Eastern United states and Canada, has pale yellow, bell-shaped flowers.  The genus Uvularia is named for the nodding flowers that resemble the uvula, that pendulous structure at back of the human throat.   The species name perfoliata, refers to the perfoliate leaves of this herb, whose base surrounds the stem. 

Perfoliate Bellwort in flower.  Rowan County, NC.

Perfoliate Bellwort showing its perfoliate leaf, the base of which

surrounds the stem.  Rowan County, NC. 

Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) is a beauty.  It has long, grass-like leaves and five-petaled, pink-lined, white flowers.  Like the other plants in this blog, Spring Beauty is found in Eastern North America, flowering early in rich woods.  Spring Beauty has a specialized, underground stem called a corm.  These corms were collected and eaten by Native Americans and taste like chestnuts.  Given their small size, it must have been a lot of work to collect enough Spring Beauty corms for dinner. 

Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) in flower.  

Flowers of Spring Beauty.  Each petal has fine pink lines that direct
pollinating insects to the nectar and pollen.  Mecklenburg County, NC.  

Spring is moving on and the spring ephemerals in North Carolina are finishing up.  But, for the last few weeks they have been putting on quite the show. 

A stand of Little Sweet Besty, Trillium cuneatum.