More Spring Wild Flowers from Northern Montgomery County

Here are some more wild flowers. I just can't seem to get enough of them. Perhaps you feel the same?

Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) (Berberidaceae: Barberry Family) Native (Patuxent River State Park, May 5, 2018). This is probably the most recognizable herbaceous plant of the forests in eastern North America. The plant may appear and flower in May but the "apple" doesn't appear until June. The flower emerges from the stem and is typically hidden by the parasol-like leaves. When ripe, the fruit is yellow rather than apple red and is apparently edible and tastes of lemon. However, one must take care with this plant. It has a potent toxin called phyllopodotoxin that has a lot of folk and medical uses.  One of the main effects of the toxin is the suppression of cell division, primarily breaking DNA and inhibiting enzymes associated with DNA replication. Derivatives of the toxin are used in chemotherapy for various cancers. Asian Podophyllum hexandrum has been over-harvested in the wild for their podophyllotoxin. Attention is now shifting the the American species. Hopefully, we will be wiser in our use of these plants.

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"The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed." 
Yahweh to Jacob, Genesis 28

Jacob's ladder (Polemonium reptans) (Polemoniaceae: Phlox Family) Native (Patuxent River State Park, May 5, 2018). This is my first encounter with this plant. It likes rich, moist forest soils, typically near streams, and this describes the place I found these to a tee. The flowers were not fully open. It's common name refers to a passage from Genesis where Jacob, pausing in his escape from his brother Esau (of crossword-puzzle fame), dreams of a ladder between Earth and Heaven on which angels ascend and descend. Interpretations vary. Anyway, the alternating pinnate leaves reminded someone of a ladder, I guess, with roots in the earth and a heavenly cluster of blue flowers on top. There is also a 1990 movie of the same name that I remember as being pretty good, although confusing and sad. My recollection is that it was sort of an updated, complexified, cinematic version of Ambrose Bierce's short story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. [As an aside ... even further aside ... I think that Bierce is a very underappreciated writer of weird and horror fiction, with An Occurrence... being the one most fit for High School AmLit anthologies. However, his short story Chickamauga is one of the most affecting horror stories I've read and thus unsuitable for public schools.] So, what has this got to do with Maryland, nature or flowers? Nothing really, but it's my blog and I will drone on about stuff as I please. So, there!

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Virginia Pennywort (Obolaria virginianica) (Gentianaceae: Gentian Family) Native (Rachel Carson Conservation Park: May 7, 2017). These are peculiar little plants that pop up in moist forest soils. They look like they could be the ornamental shrubs in the yard of a doll's house. The flowers and leaves are tightly compact (at least early on). The flowers are white to pink and the leaves are green to purplish. The leaves are small and round and so resemble a penny.

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Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum) (Geraniaceae: Geranium Family) Native. One of 10 species of wild geraniums that one might encounter in Maryland, according to the Maryland Biodiversity Project.This a fairly common sight in the spring and early-summer woods of central Maryland: lilac-colored flowers projecting up to 2 feet with large palmate, deeply dissected leaves. If you can't get to the woods, there are possibilities for observing some kind of wild geranium closer to home ... in your lawn or garden, for example.

Left: Carolina Cranesbill or Carolina Geranium (Geranium carolinianum) Native (UMD Campus: May 15, 2018). Small plant with unimpressive pint-to-white flowers and three- or five-lobed palmate leaves, similar to those of G. maculata. Inset: ripening fruit of the same plant (May 18). Right: Doves-foot Cranesbill (Germanium molle). Introduced from Mediterranean Region (UMD: 5-15-18). These have tiny pink flowers with each petal deeply notched, thus giving the impression of having 10 petals. I guess the common name refers to the three-toed lobes that line the edge of the leaf, but a Google Image search of "dove foot" makes me think that someone was NWI ... naming while intoxicated.

The term "cranesbill" refers to the shape of the fruit, which looks like the head of a crane ... The NWI guy, again? ... The "head" is at the base and is composed of five seed capsules (mericarps), each with one seed. The "beak" projects upward and is composed of five long projections (awns) that are attached to each other along their margins. The "beak" is actually a catapult-like device that explosively propels the seeds once has dried to a critical point. It sort of works like the capsule of a touch-me-not or jewelweed.

There are three different approaches to "explosive" seed dispersal in the Geraniaceae. In all species depicted above, the "explosion " launches the seeds alone over 1.5 feet. There can be secondary dispersals by ants or water (the seeds of G. maculata are denser than water and tend to stay where they land, but those of G. molle are less dense and are probably transported by rain run-off.) Another mechanism launches the capsules with the seeds in them. The last mechanism launches all of the components of each of the five parts. This occurs in Red-stemmed Storksbill (Erodium cicutarium), a non-native plant also found in Maryland. When the "bill" dries, the half of the awn closest to the mericarp coils into a cork-screw shape. The seed-mericarp-awn apparatus (below) sits on the soil until it rains, when the awn soaks up water and begins to uncoil. This process essentially drills the mericarp into the soil, and the mericarp has slanted projections that keep it from backing out again. Even "weeds" can be cool. For more details follow this link.

http://idtools.org/id/table_grape/weed-tool/key/GrapeSeedKey/Media/Images/Entity_key_images/Ero_cicC139-09.jpg

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Rue Anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides) (Ranunculaceae: Buttercup Family) Native.The clover-like leaves that form a sort of understory to the anemones are those of Violet Woodsorrel (Oxalis violacea) (Oxalidaceae: Woodsorrel Family) Native.  Rachel Carson Conservation Park: May 11, 2018

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Showy Orchid (Galearis spectabilis) (Orchidaceae: Orchid Family) Native. Rachel Carson Conservation Park (April 29, 2017). These orchids occur in mooist deciduous forests in much of eastern North American, usually near streams or ponds. Each plant has two large and rather thick basal leaves that embrace a central stalk that bears several flowers. So, there are about six plants in this cluster. Each flower consists of a pink to purple "helmet" and a white "beard". The helmet is composed of three sepals on the outside and two petals on the inside. The beard is one petal and has a nectary at the top.  Bumble bees are a primary pollinator of this species. They land on the white beard and drink the nectar.