Asarum canadense or Canadian Wild Ginger is another great ground-cover for dry shade and is usually found near bloodroot in deciduous forests. These ones were growing a few feet way from the bloodroot on the far side of the reservoir at Giuffrida Park. The soft pubescent (covered with tiny hair) leaves emerge in early spring before the trees leaf out to shade them. The purple red flower emerges at the base of the plant and is often buried under leaves and hard to notice. This unusual flower has evolved to attract carnivorous flies that emerge from the ground in early spring and are conveniently located for the flies first meal. It hasn’t been proven this fly actually pollinates the flower but many assume it does. Enough about flies, this plant will spread once established and can be be easily divided and shared with friends. I don’t have an image of the ginger planted at my parents from a friend, but the last image from May 10, 2014 shows the leaves a few weeks matured at Clarke’s Reservation in Syracuse, NY. (Yes, I have been taking pictures of plants and tagging them with botanical names on my laptop for that long). The leaves of wild ginger will grow even larger and darker by summer and will die back and disappear if it’s a particularly hot and dry year. They always re-emerge the following spring. If you have a garden please consider this a great addition if you can find a friend or garden center to get it from. Please do not take it from the woods. If not, see if you can spot it on your next hike and look for bloodroot nearby! Beware it’s heart shaped leaves can sometimes be confused for the invasive garlic mustard but these will not have a scalloped edge. More info on Canadian Wild Ginger @u.s.forestservice website https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/asarum_canadense.shtml #asarumcanadense #wildginger #canadianwildginger #nativeplantsofnorthamerica #nativeplantsofct #woodlandflowers #forestflowers #unusualflowers #forestfloor #plantnative #dryshadeplants (at Giuffrida Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_UwG_YJgzo/?igshid=84g6x0e48tq3
