ELMWOOD – A group of eight people from the Saugeen Nature club toured the hardwood forest at Kinghurst Nature Reserve near Elmwood on a cool evening in early May to look at spring ephemerals.
These flowers of the forest floor bloom early before the trees leaf out, completing their lifecycle of budding, blooming and setting seed by early to mid-summer. Despite the cold spring we have had and the early May date, species like bloodroot, trout lily, round-leaved hepatica, red trillium, some wild ginger and blue cohosh rewarded our visit. Many of the bloodroot and hepatica flowers were already past their prime and the plants were setting seed.
Because of the cool spring, many other flowers like the white trilliums, toothwort, Virginia waterleaf, spring beauty, violets and red elderberry were still just in bud. As a result, the wildflower show will continue through May, so keep an eye on your local hardwood grove or forest and you will be rewarded by patches of beauty, some very large and some small.
The white trilliums tend to form widely scattered groupings in places like Kinghurst Nature Reserve, Sulphur Spring Conservation Area, Allan Park Conservation Authority, and many smaller hardwood tracts in Grey and Bruce, while patches of trout lily may be very small, or quite extensive. Flowers like spring beauty and hepatica grow in small clumps, often tucked up against the trunks of trees, so they take a little more hunting to find. Mayapples, on the other hand, can form large clumps, although it’s the leaves that are eye-catching; the flowers are hidden underneath the umbrella-like leaves. Wild ginger forms clumps but the burgundy-brown flowers are hidden underneath the leaves. The flowers are actually lying on the ground so that ants can pollinate them easily. Despite the duller colour, they are quite beautiful in their formation.
As the spring progresses, flowers like dutchman’s breeches, red baneberry and white baneberry, bishop’s cap, foamflower and jack-in-the-pulpit come into bloom. The white baneberry is also known as doll’s eyes for its white seeds with black centres set on a red stalk. Dutchman’s breeches are well-named; the flowers look like tiny short pants hung on a line to dry. The bishop’s cap has beautiful tiny snowflake-like flowers, but the seeds look like a mitre or bishop’s cap. Other flowers like red trillium and wild ginger persist. As a result, a walk through any of the local nature reserves, or your own hardwood forest will reward you with several beautiful spring blooms through the end of May and into early June.
Saugeen Nature has returned to regular outdoor meetings after a hiatus during the pandemic. If you are interested in the many aspects of nature, check out our website at www.saugeenfieldnaturalists.com. All our events are free of charge so please feel free to join us when you like.
