COL’s Wildflower Roadshow – Saturday, May 7
Update -- did you hear a barred owl on the wildflower walk? Did it sound like this???
Our intrepid naturalist, Pat Underwood, attempted to lure an owl for us with his terrific call. Unfortunately all he got were laughs!
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Michiganders look forward to spring with all its rain and greening -- at least it's a little bit warmer! On Saturday, May 7 we’ll take advantage of the spring weather to go traipsing around forests and wetlands in the area in order to see spring’s earliest visitors: the wildflowers.
Here are a few samples of what we may see!
Hepatica/Liverleaf
(Hepatica Americana)
Sometimes called liverwort purportedly for its traditional value as a medicinal herb for liver ailments. Its foliage is even more striking than its flower which blooms in hues of pale blue and lavender. The foliageis glossy and semi-evergreen in patches of purple on a dark-green background.
Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria).jpg)
These look like tiny upside-down pantaloons! The long-tongued insects are able to pollinate these and since the seeds are fleshy and oily, they are distributed by – ants. The foliage is toxic to most mammals which makes them proliferate all the more.
Yellow Trout Lily/Adder’s Tongue (Erythronium americanum)
The flowers are yellow and nodding with mottled green and purple foliage. They are usually found in colonies with many sterile or non-blossoming plants. Does “Adder’s Tongue” come from the way the leaves splinter their way through the leaves on the forest floor, or is it from the anthers that protrude from its center? Who knows, but they’re a beautiful harbinger of spring.
Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)
Large, white, 3 petaled flowers protrude from 3 prominent, pointed, green sepals. Everything’s in three’s – and when you see them covering the forest floor like a carpet, you’ll marvel at their beauty.
Marsh Marigold/Cowslip
(Caltha palustris)
A yellow flowering plant found in and around wet areas. They tend to carpet an entire area. Shakespeare included it in one of his plays. He wrote:
“Winking Marybuds begin
To open their golden eyes.”
A sign of spring everywhere, even in Shakespeare’s neck of the woods.
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