Spring Wildflowers - April 2020

Yesterday's warm weather has created a burst of colour on the forest floor. Pollinators were busy collecting pollen and nectar from the yellow Trout Lily which is sometimes called Adders Tongue, amoung other names.

The white Trout Lily, almost identical to the flower above is rare in our area.

Round-leaf Hepatica is a species I rarely see. The flower usually blooms before the leaf.

Purple violets are blooming in little clumps on the forest floor.

I saw my first Trillium of the spring.  It also was entertaining a pollinator.

My most exciting find was a Twinleaf. Like the Bloodroot, the flower petals 

are short-lived. The leaf is in 2 parts, thus a "Twin Leaf".

May Apples are carpeting the forest floor in Canatara. Once they reach their full size, (up to 18 inches) they make good shelter for small forest critters from hungry predators.

Another one of my favourites is Spring Beauty with its pale pink, candy-striped petals.

Bloodroot surprisingly is still flowering. I can't remember a year when the petals lasted more than a couple of days. Once the leaves in the forest open on the trees, shading the ground, all of these perennial plants will die back to the ground and won't flower again until next spring.