Apr 22, 2020
The clumping, heart-shaped foliage of wild ginger (Asarum canadense) emerges from the forest floor in early to mid-April, often in dense colonies, and persists through autumn. While the velvety, intensely-green leaves are beautiful in their own right (particularly as a ground cover in shady wildflower gardens), an even more intriguing secret lurks below their spreading canopy: an unusual flower with three flared sepals fused into a hairy cup. The flower emits a foul odor that attracts the plant’s primary pollinators, flies and gnats. The pollinated flower develops into a pod, whose seeds are dispersed by ants. The photos above were taken on the Mon River Trail.
