The spring ephemerals, making the most of the warm weather and rain before the canopy closes in May, are pushing hard in the lower elevation woodlands around here. One of the best spots locally to enjoy the spring wildflower bounty is Toms Run Preserve, owned by the West Virginia Land Trust.
From top: Elizabeth's Woods showing a bit of early spring green; sharp-lobed hepatica (Anemone acutiloba, Hepatica acutiloba or Hepatica nobilis var. acuta) and foliage, whose leathery, thrice-lobed leaves give it the common names of liverwort and liverleaf; a scarlet cup fungus (Sarcoscypha coccinea or Sarcoscypha dudleyi), whose luminous fruiting body appears in late winter through early spring; smooth yellow violet (Viola eriocarpa), distinguished from downy yellow violet (Viola pubescens) by smooth stalks and the presence of one or more heart-shaped, basal (base) leaves; early blue cohosh (Caulophyllum giganteum) and foliage, whose herbacious, shrub-like habit is one of the most beautiful sights in Appalachia's spring forests; bluntleaf waterleaf (Hydrophyllum canadense), whose mottled, early spring foliage illuminates the dull leaf litter of the forest floor; cutleaf toothwort (Cardamine concatenata) with pink-tinged rather than pure white petals; yellow trout lily (Erythronium americanum), whose sprawling colonies in the preserve, spread by clonal reproduction, could be hundreds of years old; azure bluet (Houstonia caerulea), also known as Quaker ladies, whose delicate clumps bounce in the wind along trail edges and in open meadows; bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), a member of the poppy family with red, poisonous sap; Toms Run at full flow from recent rains; great white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), which forms vast clonal colonies on moist hillsides and along streams; red trillium (Trillium erectum), also known as purple trillium, wake robin, and stinking Benjamin, the latter beause it draws in its primary pollinators - carrion flies and beetles - with the odor of rotting flesh; and rue anemone (Anemonella thalictroides orThalictrum thalictroides), a member of the buttercup family and closely related to hepatica, wood anemone, eastern red columbine, tall thimbleweed, golden seal, and the meadow rues.
