White Trillium Flowering
Queen among spring ephemerals is the Large-flowered Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), whose bright white three-petaled flowers can carpet the forest floor at this time of year, given the right (not highly acidic) soil. Because the base of its petals overlap, the flower has a funnel-like shape and as they age, the petals turn pale to deep pink.
As its genus name indicates, this trillium, like others, has its parts arranged in threes or multiples of three – three leaves, three sepals, three petals, six stamens, three stigmas and an ovary that has three sections. Never take a Large-flowered Trillium flower for granted – the plant must grow for 16-17 years before producing a flower. Plants in excess of 70 years of age have been documented.
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Miterwort Flowering
Miterwort (Mitella diphylla), also known as Bishop’s Cap, is named for the resemblance of its two-peaked fruits to the hats (known as miters) worn by Catholic bishops. This relatively small plant is easy to overlook, but those who are naturally curious have a treat in store. The tiny, five-pointed-snowflake flowers that extend up a slender stalk captivate anyone who takes the time to examine them with a hand lens. Each plant bears between five and 20 of these delicate blossoms. The flowers have a ring of nectaries located just below the pollen-bearing stamens which increases the likelihood of visiting bees and syrphid flies inadvertently collecting pollen and dispersing it onto the next Miterwort they visit.
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Wild Ginger Reproduction
The flowers of Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) often escape detection from humans, as they are borne at ground level, beneath the plant’s paired leaves. For years it was assumed that the dark maroon (flesh-like) color of the flower and its accessibility to insects promoted pollination by carrion-seeking flies. It turns out, however, that most fly-pollinated flowers have a rather putrid aroma, which Wild Ginger lacks, so it may not be the lure of decomposing flesh that attracts flies. They have been observed visiting the flowers, collecting pollen and escaping the cold winds of April and early May inside the flowers, but they have not been confirmed as actually pollinating the flowers.
Wild Ginger has two back-up strategies if cross-pollination by insects doesn’t occur. One is self-pollination, when the flower’s pollen-bearing stamens mature and move into a position adjacent to the stigma of the flower (see white anthers pressing against central pistil in photo). The other, and most common, reproductive strategy is through vegetative reproduction – spreading rhizomes just beneath the leaf litter.
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Bloodroot Fruit and Seed Formation
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The process of a Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) flower becoming a capsule containing seeds is primarily dependent upon insects (usually small, solitary, native bees) pollinating the flower. Two to three hours after the flower has opened, some of the stamens begin to release their pollen. Bees (often dark and hairy so that they may absorb warmth from the sun and fly in cool temperatures) transport pollen to a female stigma, thereby pollinating the flower. Within 12 hours of pollination the flower’s stamens wither and the petals fall soon thereafter (see photo). If by the third day after opening the flower has not been cross-pollinated by insects, some of the stamens bend inward toward the stigma, enabling the plant to self-pollinate. (Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast by Carol Gracie)
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Sedges Flowering
Often it’s the spring ephemerals – Trout Lily, Red Trillium, Dutchman’s Breeches – that catch our eye as we walk through the woods this time of year. But there are other, more modest flowering plants which shouldn’t be overlooked.
Sedges, often found growing near wetlands but also in woods, are one of these inconspicuous plants. Related to grasses and rushes, they are wind-pollinated, and have no need for large, showy petals in order to attract insects. As a result, it’s fairly easy to miss their flowers, some of which are in full bloom right now.
Male and female sedge flowers are typically found on the same plant. The arrangement of the flowers, or inflorescence, usually consists of a cluster of male flowers on the end of a spike (see photo) with female flowers located on separate spikes. A dissecting scope is necessary in order to identify most species of sedges, but an easy way to know it’s a sedge is to feel the shape of the plant’s stem – sedge stems are three-sided — triangular in cross-section (unlike rushes which are round, and grass stems which are hollow). Hence, the saying “Sedges have edges, rushes are round.”
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Bloodroot In Flower
One of our earliest spring ephemerals, Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), a member of the Poppy family, greets the longer, warming days by having its short-lived flower emerge from within its protective leaf and spread its white petals wide open on sunny days. (The flower only opens on days when the temperature reaches 46 degrees, as that’s when pollinators are active.)
To encourage cross-pollination, when the flower opens it is in the female stage, relying on pollinators covered in pollen to land and drop pollen to the receptive stigma. Within a few hours of opening the stamens begin to release pollen. The flower will open for up to three days or until cross-pollination has occurred. Once pollination has taken place the flower begins to drop its petals.
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Miterwort Flowering
Miterwort (Mitella diphylla), also known as Bishop’s–cap, is named for the resemblance of its seed capsules to the hats (known as miters) worn by bishops of the Roman Catholic Church. If you examine a flower closely, you will see its delicate, 5-pointed, snowflake-like design. Each tiny flower is in the shape of a small cup, with dissected petals arising from the rim of the cup, resembling fine lacework. There is a glandular ring of nectar-producing tissue inside the cup which attracts small bees, flies and ants.
Once pollinated, the flowers produce open seed-containing capsules. Water, not animals, is the dispersal agent for Miterwort’s seeds. The capsules orient themselves so that their opening faces upward. When it rains, the falling rain drops splash the seeds out of the capsules, dispersing them up to three feet away from the parent plant.
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Stinking Benjamin – A Fly-eating Spider’s Best Friend
Red Trillium (Trillium erectum) has many common names, among them Stinking Benjamin, due to its unappealing smell. It has no nectar to attract insects, so it uses its scent and the color of its petals (which resembles rotting meat) to lure pollinating insects, the majority of which are carrion flies and beetles.
Apparently this strategy has not gone unnoticed by certain insect-eating predators, such as spiders. As you can see in this photograph, a spider has snared and is eating (drinking) a fly in the web it spun on top of the trillium’s pollen-laden stamens.
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Large-flowered Trillium Flowering
Large-flowered Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), also known as White Wake-Robin, is our largest and showiest species of trillium. It can be found throughout New England’s rich woods, sometimes carpeting large expanses of the forest floor in May and June. All species of trillium, as their name implies, have parts arranged in threes, or in multiples of three (petals, bracts, leaves, stamens, carpels).
Nectar, not fragrance, attracts long-tongued bumblebees to Large-flowered Trillium’s funnel-shaped blossoms. Self-pollination occasionally occurs, aided by the fact that as the flowers age, their stigmas reflex downward and come in contact with the anthers. The flowers are exceptionally long-lived, remaining open and fertile for two to three weeks.
When they first open, Large-flowered Trillium’s petals are white. As the flowers age, they become pale to deep pink (see insert). (There is also a pink form of Large-flowered Trillium which is pink from the time of opening.) The seeds that form are dispersed primarily by ants, but yellow jackets, harvestmen and white-tailed deer also contribute to their dispersal. It takes two years for the seeds to germinate and once established, Large-flowered Trillium plants typically require seven to ten years in optimal conditions to reach flowering size.
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Wild Ginger Hedges Its Bets When It Comes To Pollination
Flowers that have limited opportunity to attract pollinating insects, such as those that mature very early in the spring, often are self-fertile – they can produce seeds without the benefit of pollinators. Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) is a perfect example of this.
Wild Ginger has six inner stamens and six outer stamens, all of which produce pollen. In a newly-opened flower, all of these stamens lie flat against the “floor” of the flower. When the stamens are in this position, pollination is achieved by insects (often flies or beetles attracted to its rotten meat coloring and scent) as the pollen cannot reach the receptive stigma on its own. Wild Ginger hedges its bets, however. Whether or not pollination occurs early in its development, later in the life of the flower both inner and outer stamens move into an upright position, thereby moving closer to the stigma. Because the flower is oriented downward, this change in the position of the stamens allows for the pollen to fall onto the stigma, thereby accomplishing self-pollination. With or without pollinators, Wild Ginger succeeds in producing seeds.
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Dutchman’s Breeches Flowering
How incongruous that a spring ephemeral as beautiful as Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) is extremely debilitating to any cow that eats it. The most common bovine symptom of poisoning by Dutchman’s Breeches is a staggering gait (it’s referred to as “staggerweed” by some farmers) and a decrease in milk production. However, according to the Veterinary Medicine Library at the University of Illinois, there are far more severe symptoms. “Experimental feeding of these plants to steers caused sudden trembling which increased in severity, frothing of the mouth, ejection of partially digested stomach contents, and convulsions. The eyes became glassy, and the animals went down and moaned as if in pain.” Certainly this is a plant one should admire and experience visually, not gastronomically.
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White and Pink-flowered Spring Beauty
Spring Beauty, Claytonia virginica, is a familiar and welcome spring ephemeral that carpets the forest floor at this time of year. Within a population, its blossoms range in color from white to a deep pink. You don’t usually find a range of colors within a given population, as one color is often more successful at reproducing and it eventually becomes dominant, while the other colors are eliminated.
There is a reason why both colors of Spring Beauty continue to flourish within a given population. A red pigment interacts with two chemicals (flavenols) to produce the range of color. Plants with a high percentage of flavenols produce white flowers. These flavenols are a deterrent to herbivores, so in years when there are lots of slugs, white-flowered plants are more successful in producing seeds. This would lead one to conclude that eventually pink-flowered plants would diminish in number. However, white-flowered Spring Beauty is also parasitized by a type of fungus called a rust, Puccinia mariae-wilsoniae, which causes orange spotting and often serious deformation of the plant (see photo).
Thus, in years when slugs are numerous, white-flowered Spring Beauty flourishes and produces seeds. In years when slugs are not numerous but fungal infection is high, pink- flowered plants reproduce more successfully. This sporadic success of both white and pink Spring Beauty is why we continue to find them both in the same population.
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Red Trillium Seeds Being Dispersed By Ants
The flower of Red Trillium (Trillium erectum), also known as Stinking Benjamin and Wake Robin, is familiar to many, as it is one of our more common spring ephemerals. The three reddish-maroon (some populations have white, yellow-green, or paler red) petals of its flower are colored and smell faintly like rotten meat. Lacking nectar, these flowers rely on deception to bring in pollinators which are primarily flies and beetles that are typically attracted to dead animals.
Once a Red Trillium flower is pollinated, the Hershey Kiss-shaped red fruit begins to develop. The seeds of Red Trillium have oily appendages called “elaiosomes” which attract a number of insects, particularly ants. These elaiosomes (also called “ant snacks”) contain lipids and protein highly sought after by ants. The ants carry the seeds down into their underground tunnels where they feed the elaiosomes to their larvae and dispose of the seeds in their compost pile. Here they they put their droppings, or frass, as well as dead ants. Conditions for germination are ideal in such a spot, and, in fact, research shows a greater germination rate for seeds with elaiosomes than those without them.
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Miterwort Flowering
Miterwort, also known as Bishop’s–cap, is named for the resemblance of its fruits to the hats (known as miters) worn by bishops of the Roman Catholic Church. If you examine a flower closely, you will see its delicate, 5-pointed, snowflake-like beauty. Each flower is in the shape of a tiny cup, with dissected petals arising from the rim of the cup, resembling fine lacework. There is a glandular ring of nectar-producing tissue inside the cup which attracts small bees, flies and ants. Once pollinated, the flowers produce open seed-containing capsules. Water, not animals, is the dispersal agent for Miterwort’s seeds. The capsules orient themselves so that their opening faces upward. When it rains, the falling rain drops splash the seeds out of the capsules, dispersing them up to three feet away from the parent plant. The distance traveled by the seeds is dependent upon both the size of the raindrop and the distance that it has fallen before landing in a capsule.
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