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Tom Hodgson: new publication helps folks find and enjoy local wildflowers

Photo by Tom Hodgson. Bloodroot.
Photo by Tom Hodgson. Bloodroot.

Flower-publication---v(Chelsea Update would like to welcome back and thank Tom Hodgson and the Waterloo Natural History Association for the information and photos in this column.)

The long winter season is finally drawing to a close and signs of spring are popping.  To help everyone enjoy the spring season and the wildflowers it brings, the Waterloo Natural History Association has published a “Wildflower Guide to Waterloo and Vicinity.”

The guide is available free at the Gerald E. Eddy Discovery Center and identifies the locations of the best wildflower populations in the Waterloo Recreation Area (WRA) as well as other local sites.

April showers do bring May flowers, but if the truth be known, wildflower viewing is just as good in April, especially in wooded areas where spring flowers rush to bloom and set seed before the trees leaf out and rob them of energy giving sunlight.

The guide also includes the best sights for viewing summer wildflowers as well.

The spring wildflower parade is beginning. Here are just a few of the colorful species one can expect to see in our area. The spring beauty with is candy-striped blossoms is one of the park’s earliest spring wildflowers.  It is found in many wood lands throughout the park, sometimes blanketing the forest floor with their delicate blossoms.

Photo by Tom Hodgson. Large flowered trillium.
Photo by Tom Hodgson. Large flowered trillium.

Round-lobed Hepatica is the first colorful wildflower of spring. The blossom color varies from purple, pink, lavender to white.  When the sun is shining they open wide and shout out their colors to the sky, but when it’s cloudy they close until the sun breaks through the clouds once again. This helps to insure that the blossoms are at their attractive best when the sun’s warmth enables more pollinating insects to fly. The flower stems are covered with hairs to protect them from the cold.

Bloodroot is another flower that blooms in April and early May. Each flower has 8-12 snow-white petals that radiate from a center that is rich in bright yellow pollen. The plants begin to bloom before the leaves are fully developed. The leaves reach full size after the blooming period and last into mid-summer before going dormant. The plant gets its name from the orange-red sap that is evident when the roots (called rhizomes) are cut. The sap is highly toxic to animal tissue, but was valued by Native Americans as a dye.  Once established in an area, single plants may develop into large colonies called clones.

Large-flowered trillium is perhaps the queen of the spring wildflowers.  Its large white three-petalled blossoms turn pink with age. In the past, the park’s extensive woodland areas supported large populations of trillium. Over-grazing by deer has severely impacted these populations.

Photo by Tom Hodgson. Spring beauty up close.
Photo by Tom Hodgson. Spring beauty up close.

Picking or eating (if you are a deer) trillium plants also causes the death of the root stock leaving nothing for the next season.  Therefore, park rules forbid the picking or collecting of wildflowers.  Unfortunately deer have not learned to follow the rules.

These are just a few of the many colorful wildflowers that call WRA home. So come on out to the Discovery Center and pick up your free guide. And while you are enjoying your spring walk in the woods, just remember to “take only pictures and leave only footprints.”

Photo by Tom Hodgson. Hepatica.
Photo by Tom Hodgson. Hepatica.
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