# Spring Ephemorals at Garden in the Woods



## Heather (May 9, 2007)

The hard drive crashed at work this afternoon, so I took a walk, and some photos. 

Enjoy!

(Any help on ids would be appreciated. I need to learn this stuff!) 

Three Trillium:
grandiflorum






Next two I'm not sure of - I love the red one and it smells like juicy fruit gum!










A bell flower





Columbine:





Swamp Pink - Helonius bullota. This reminds me so much of that cool dendrobium species which I cannot think of the name of right now! But it is much smaller.


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## Heather (May 9, 2007)

*Oh yeah, forgot one!*

Can you guess?


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## Marco (May 9, 2007)

a cyp!!!


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## kentuckiense (May 9, 2007)

The red one looks a lot like T. cuneatum.


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## MoreWater (May 9, 2007)

Are these native? The white Trill is probably erectum var album, which is native to the NE. However, the fullness of the flower looks more like T simile, which may be a natural hybrid or not... and according to my Trillium book (by Case) is found only in a small area in N. Georgia through W NC. 

The red one does look like cuneatum, although (again, according to my book) cuneatum *usually* has petals that are widest in the middle and narrower at the base. Also, it ranges only as far north as about N.C. Sessile is similar looking and ranges further north to NY or so. I don't think sessile smells sweet though...?

I think a lot of the Trilliums look similar, especially if you look at different color forms. The book seems to indicate that they have relatively definite distributions.... but I don't know how accepted this book is?

P.S. I can't see the photo of the first trillium!


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## kentuckiense (May 9, 2007)

USDA says cuneatum can be found all the way into Penn.

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=TRCU


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## kentuckiense (May 9, 2007)

Could be sessile too... It has a slightly more northern range.


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## MoreWater (May 9, 2007)

oooh I'd forgotten about them. Page of Trillium distribution in the US - I wonder if this link will work. http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=TRILL


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## MoreWater (May 9, 2007)

Speaking of Trilliums, I don't think mine is coming up this year.  It's one of the woodland perennials I grow in pots (yah...) on my balcony....


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## Heather (May 9, 2007)

Hrmm...I've no idea! 
I'm so just learning these guys. We have signage but it tends to be where you first see the plant in the garden, and not with each plant in the garden so...sometimes it's hard to tell what's what. 

I will keep working on locating the sign for the red, mottled leaf Trillium. 

I also really like Trout Lily but couldn't get a good pic, they are almost past. Funny, how I am drawn to mottled leaved wildflowers and yet not mottled leaved Paphs!


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## MoreWater (May 9, 2007)

I LOVE trout lily. On my wish list for the balcony, maybe I will this year..... 

I missed spring in DC but caught up with it (a bit) in Chicago.


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## Rick (May 9, 2007)

Very nice Heather.

I don't think we are going to see allot of trillium blooms this year. We had that freeze right when they were about to bloom.

I have a monster Jack in the Pulpit in the front yard.


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## likespaphs (May 10, 2007)

i was outside the other day and saw the ones we have planted right in front of the greenhouses in bloom. wonder if it'll still be open...
you work at a cool place, heather....


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## toddybear (May 10, 2007)

My take on the red Trillium is sessile. We have one in our Bot garden that looks just like it (although only up a couple of inches yet). The bell-shaped flower is a Disporum lanuginosum. The Aquilegia is A. canadensis.


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## NYEric (May 10, 2007)

Heather said:


> The hard drive crashed at work this afternoon, so I took a walk, and some photos.


You know, playing throw paper for hours will crash the drive! oke:


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## cdub (May 10, 2007)

NYEric said:


> You know, playing throw paper for hours will crash the drive! oke:



No, playing Bejeweled 2 for hours will fry your video card (if its an old one), then crash the hard drive.


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## Ron-NY (May 10, 2007)

toddybear said:


> My take on the red Trillium is sessile. We have one in our Bot garden that looks just like it (although only up a couple of inches yet). The bell-shaped flower is a Disporum lanuginosum. The Aquilegia is A. canadensis.


Todd is correct on the mottled leaf Trillium...it is Toadshade....T. sessile
I was planning on taking pictures of the local wildflowers but haven't found time. I think I missed the Hepatica already. Trillium grandiflorum is just coming into bloom and the purple trillium is still blooming.


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## Heather (May 10, 2007)

NYEric said:


> You know, playing throw paper for hours will crash the drive! oke:



Actually, I was really working. I don't have time at this job for that sort of nonsense.


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## MoreWater (May 10, 2007)

Heather said:


> Next two I'm not sure of - I love the red one and it smells like juicy fruit gum!
> 
> ...
> 
> Swamp Pink - Helonius bullota. This reminds me so much of that cool dendrobium species which I cannot think of the name of right now! But it is much smaller.



so has anyone smelled T sessile and found that it smells like juicy fruit gum? I only ask because my book says that cuneatum smells like that, and some forms of cuneatum look just like the photo too. Of course, if the Trill is native to Mass, then I also still think its sessile...

On the Den, is Den smilliae the one you're thinking of? This is a pic of the one blooming at Oak Hill - the flower is upside down because the cane was bent.


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## Heather (May 10, 2007)

That's the one! Thanks Ki. 

Didn't get out to check on the Trillium today...smells to me like juicy fruit tho! (and I was told to go check it out because of the fragrance...)

Edit - I shot off an email to the powers that know these things at the garden about what Trillium species that is. Stay tuned.


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## Heather (May 11, 2007)

Okay. I just checked the "what's blooming" board. We have both suggested species blooming now.


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## MoreWater (May 11, 2007)

Now you tell us...lol

Hafta agree on the cool workplace - can't imagine mine telling me to go sniff the trilliums!


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## Heather (May 11, 2007)

MoreWater said:


> Now you tell us...lol
> 
> Hafta agree on the cool workplace - can't imagine mine telling me to go sniff the trilliums!



Hehe, yeah. I saw a good opportunity and I'm really thinking that I did the right thing by jumping in with both feet. 

Here are some more photos. I took a walk after work tonight, this twilight time is my favorite of the day, it was very peaceful and new things are blooming every day. I am thinking I might try to take an evening walk 3-5x a week throughout the season. 

Okay, most of these I at least know the common names of. 

Squirrel Corn. I love the foliage. 






Solomon's Seal





Cyp. parviflorum var. pubescens - the first two are getting close! They're actually why I went tonight, had to check up on them so I wouldn't miss them over the weekend. This is actually a newly planted area. We have a "ladyslipper trail" that I have yet to walk. Soon tho...









That Trillium I like so much. Still not sure which it is. 





Virginia Bluebells. I love these!





and finally the albaflavum variety of the same...





I hope you guys don't get sick of me this summer. I am a very visual learner, so this excercise really helps me learn the names of things. Then I just have to tackle the latin names! It also helps me work on my photography skills. I just learned there is a class going on right now that I could have taken for free but it started a couple weeks ago. 

Well anyway, Enjoy!


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## MoreWater (May 12, 2007)

Well I won't be bored, so long as you stick to the plants with inconspicuous flowers. :rollhappy: Got any asarums or arisaemas around there?

I love solomon's seal too. I have 2 or 3 varieties in pots on the balc. (I'm a nut case) but one is not doing at all well. P humile is the one that does the best - about 6" tall. It's actually the easiest of all the plants I grow.  




​
Here's some more detail on Trilliums, as we do sometimes talk about such stuffs here. :crazy: An obvious (sometimes) difference is size, so if you see another clump somewhere the looks kinda the same but smaller/bigger....

cueneatum

16-45 cm tall
leaves ovate, usually widest below the middle, apex acuminate to acute, 7-18.5 cm long, 7-13 cm wide
stamens erect, 11-18 mm long
filaments 1.5-2.5 mm long, widest at base
anther sac openings at 90 degree or facing towards the ovary
connectives scarcely if at all prolonged beyong anther saces
ovary including stigmas ovoid to vase-shaped, 12-15 mm long, with 6 weakly defined angles or ridges when mature
stigmas thick, erect, slighty diverging at tips to spreading
flower odor generally pleasant, reminiscent of the odor of bruised Sweetshrub leaves, occasionally musty-unpleasant
fruit ovoid, very obscurely angled or angles no longer apparent, green or with purple streaks, mealy or pulpy fleshy, not juicy

sessile

8-25 cm tall, rarely taller
leaves sessile (attached to stem without a petiole), broadly attached, oval to suborbicular, rounded basally to its broad attachment, 4-10 cm long, 2-8 cm wide
stamens straight, anthers not curved, erect, 10-23 mm long
filaments (stalk supporting the anthers) broad, about one-third anther length
anther sac openings facing towards the ovary
connectives projecting 1-2.5 mm beyond anther sac
ovary 6-angled, ovoid to globose with maturity but pyramidally narrowed to the subulate stigmas, 4-8.5 mm tall
stigmas up to 2 times ovary height, erect
flower odor pungent, spice in fresh flowers
fruit a dark green-purple berry, subglobose, the 6 angles somewhat winglike, fragmentally separating from the basal attachment on the receptacle

:rollhappy: we're supposed to know what "subulate" means? (=awl-shaped. I don't think I know how an awl is shaped!)

eh, whatever. I can't learn only from photos - I need details too, so..... now I should be able to tell the difference! (riiiiight)

And I still haven't figured out which Trillium I saw at the Chicago arboretum! Of course, I did not stoop to sniff..... and these sepals are waaaay longer and narrower:



​

I've never heard of squirrel corn - does it have tubers that they eat or something? The flowers are bleeding heartesque


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## Heather (May 12, 2007)

MoreWater said:


> Well I won't be bored, so long as you stick to the plants with inconspicuous flowers. :rollhappy: Got any asarums or arisaemas around there?



I dunno...more walks are clearly necessary! 



MoreWater said:


> Here's some more detail on Trilliums, as we do sometimes talk about such stuffs here. :crazy: An obvious (sometimes) difference is size, so if you see another clump somewhere the looks kinda the same but smaller/bigger....
> 
> cueneatum
> 
> ...


Thanks for the more info on Trilliums - I will have to look closer at the photos on the "in bloom" board on Monday...



MoreWater said:


> I've never heard of squirrel corn - does it have tubers that they eat or something? The flowers are bleeding heartesque



They are. I think the common name refers to the fact that they look a little bit like corn kernals that squirrels like to eat. We have a lot of Dutchman's Breeches too and apparently people often confuse the two (I'm not sure why, the latter looks like a pair of breeches!  )


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## kentuckiense (May 12, 2007)

Heather said:


> We have a lot of Dutchman's Breeches too and apparently people often confuse the two (I'm not sure why, the latter looks like a pair of breeches!  )


Same genus, actually: _Dicentra_

However, I agree that they are pretty easy to tell apart... I mean, one looks like britches!


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