May 3rd, 2015

I had my first chance to get out and explore the wetlands and forest trails at Blair this weekend.  With the warm weather we’ve had the last week or so, I found many of the spring wildflowers  in bloom.  Some plants flower for a only a short time, and it’s easy to miss out on their beauty, so I was lucky to find a few species at their peak.

This is the flower I was hoping to find today – Spring Beauty!  It’s one of the earliest flowering forest species and I thought I might have been too late this year,  but I found a patch at the base of an old beech tree where the suns’ heat is reflected onto the the plants from the trunk of the tree.  The flowers are very tiny, not much more than 1/2 cm in diameter and very fragrant, attracting a number of early spring flies and bees as it’s pollinators.

Bloodroot is another early spring favourite, and I found flowers both at, and past their peak.  It’s a very delicate flower, the petals fall off at the slightest touch.  The leaf is upright and curved surrounding the stem and bud,  concentrating and reflecting the weak, early spring sun’s heat onto the flower.  The root and stem exude a reddish sap when broken, which, although there are medicinal properties and uses, can be an irritant so best not to get it on your skin.

Trout Lily with it’s showy, nodding flower is found in most southern Ontario forests.  It also goes by the name Fawn Lily, Adder’s Tongue and Dog Tooth Violet.