By Kaila Pennock

We are lucky to live in a part of the world where many locally native plants are still present, even if scattered and in pockets. This is true in our backyards, in cities, by highways and in utility easements. Many of these plants evolved over millennia, through multiple ice ages, moving south and expanding north, and up and down the complex geographies and various altitudes of the Appalachians and the Piedmont, or foothills. Some of the most specialized North American plants are the spring ephemerals.

Spring ephemerals are among the first wildflowers to bloom after winter ends, providing essential nutrients to the early pollinators. The presence of these sensitive native plants is a sign that the land has not been too heavily disturbed. Although ephemerals come from many different plant families, they are grouped together because of their growth cycle. Their above ground portion arises quickly and cleverly, capturing sunlight before the trees leaf out. When temperatures warm up, they decay back into the earth where their long-lived root systems store energy.

Walking through the woods in late winter, it’s exciting to see the foliage of spring beauties, which look like single blades of grass. By early spring, tiny pink striped flowers begin to emerge, dotting the forest floor. They can also be found within shady lawns, fields, or roadsides. They receive many visitors, including a specialized native bee that only collects pollen from spring beauties. They form extensive clonal communities thanks to their storage organs called corms, also known as “fairy spuds” which resemble small potatoes.

It is delightful to come across patches of toothwort throughout the spring. They often grow in rich, moist wooded areas, such as well-drained floodplain forests. This mustard family plant has distinctive lobed leaves that provide crucial food for the caterpillars of various Pieris butterflies. Their extensive root system consists of both rhizomes and tubers. The rhizomes spread horizontally, linked together with tooth-like segments that form new shoots. The fleshy tubers are deeper underground and act as nutrient storage units.

Trout lily’s mottled leaves make an impressive scene in the spring. They take several years to accumulate enough energy to flower. When they do, many pollinators visit, including a miner bee that prefers their pollen to other flowers. Trout lilies put energy into the same rootstock year after year, which sends out stolons under the leaf litter, creating clonal offshoots. Trout lily colonies can remain for centuries!

Bloodroot thrives within the fallen leaves and twigs that slowly meld into top layers of soil. Bloodroot flowers are cloaked by their waxy leaves when they first emerge which protects them from the cold. Although their stunning flowering period is brief, their seed pods and lobed leaves can last into the summer. A red sap is found throughout the plant, especially in the rhizomes, giving bloodroot its name. The rhizomes themselves are bulky orangish-red and grow shallowly, slowly branching out to form dense patches over time.

Spring ephemerals are only visible for part of the year but their presence is a sign of a more intact ecosystem. Even so, we come across them surprisingly often in people’s yards, especially in newer developments. This is an example of why observation and conservation of existing plants must be the guiding factor for our work. It’s also an important reason why we avoid using herbicides or broadly destructive practices like forest mulching. These ancient ephemerals are a reminder to slow down, observe and appreciate what plants have to teach us about a place and its history.

Sources:

• MGNV: Native Spring Ephemerals – Evolved for Success
• Spring Ephemerals: Masters of Adaptation – Conserving Carolina
• The Badass Spring Ephemerals
• Interannual variation in spring weather conditions as a driver of spring wildflower coverage: a 15-year perspective from an old-growth temperate forest – PMC
• Digital Atlas of Virginia Flora – Cut Leaf Toothwort
• Erythronium americanum

Photo Credits:

• Cut Leaf Toothworts, Trout Lilies, and spring beauty colonies – Kaila Pennock
• Spring Beauty – Kaila Pennock
• Cutleaf Toothword – Kaila Pennock
• Trout Lily – Kaila Pennock
• Bloodroot – Amy Hill
• Bloodroot Flowers emerging – Amy Hill