#two-leaf toothwort

[vandaliatraveler]

The spring ephemerals are pushing hard on Chestnut Ridge in Coopers Rock State Forest. Photos above are from a long hike last weekened. From top: long-spurred violet (Viola rostrata); halberd-leaved yellow violet (Viola hastata); two-leaf toothwort (Cardamine diphylla), also known as broad-leaved toothwort; a ghost-like West Virginia white butterfly (Pieris virginiensis), whose host plant is the two-leaf toothwort; and the ever dainty and gorgeous wood anemone (Anemonoides quinquefolia), also known as nightcaps and windflower.

[faguscarolinensis]

Cardamine diphylla / Pepper Root at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University in Durham, NC

[vandaliatraveler]

NC-WV is finally enjoying a dry, sunny spring weekend after weeks of near nonstop, flooding rain. That was all the incentive I needed to take my first long hike of the spring at Coopers Rock State Forest. The wildflower progression on top of Chestnut Ridge is running about 2 weeks behind that at lower elevations, but there were plenty of early spring beauties on display this afternoon. From top: Allegheny serviceberry (Amelanchier laevis); long-spurred violet (Viola rostrata); halberd-leaved yellow violet (Viola hastata); downy rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera pubescens); trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens), which is not herbaceous but a mat-forming, evergreen shrub in the health family; broadleaf toothwort (Cardamine diphylla), also known as two-leaf toothwort; and round-lobed hepatica (Hepatica americana), which prefers drier woods than sharp-lobed hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba), which I typically find growing on the rocky, calcareous slopes along the Monongahela River.

[vandaliatraveler]

What a gorgeous afternoon for a Mid-April hike in the Cheat River Canyon. Spring’s delicate treasures were out in full force. From top: halberd-leaved yellow violet (Viola hastata); sweet white violet (Viola blanda); broadleaf toothwort (Cardamine diphylla); Carolina spring beauty (Claytonia caroliniana); bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis); common blue violet (Viola sororia); Allegheny serviceberry (Amelanchier laevis); sweet birch (Betula lenta) catkins; and a cranky Allegheny rat snake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis) newly out of hibernation.   

[vandaliatraveler]

Broadleaf toothwort (Cardamine diphylla), also known as crinkleroot and two-leaf toothwort, is the bigger cousin of cutleaf toothwort; it blooms in mid to late April shortly after its more delicate relative finishes. A member of the mustard family, this spring perennial has a long history of culinary and medicinal use by Native Americans and white settlers.  The photographs above were taken on the Clay Run Trail in Coopers Rock State Forest.